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Y4 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 






SALVATION BY CHRIST 



In (Ehne feaijs. 



BY JOB SCOTT, 

AN ENLIGHTENED AND EMINENT QUAKER MINISTER, AND 
DILIGENT LABOURER IN THE TRUTH. 



ALSO, 

TWENTY-FOUR SELECT EXTRACTS, 

FROM HIS ENTIRE JOURNAL, 

N(>T PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED IN ENGLAND, OF A VERY 
REMARKABLE CHARACTER. 

WITH PREFATORY REMAI 
BY GEORGE PITT/ 




MANCHESTER: 

WILLIAM IRWIN, CATHEDRAL CHAMBERS, 

HALF STREET. 

1876. 



PREFACE 



The three very remarkable Essays on the sub- 
ject of " Salvation by Christ," herein contained, 
were written by Job Scott, an eminent Quaker 
Minister, universally beloved and esteemed by 
the Society. He was a native of Providence, 
Rhode Island, America, labouring and travelling 
much in the service of Truth, in the United 
States; also in England, as well as Ireland, 
where he finished his course, w T hile engaged in 
his Ministerial Services among Friends there. 

The Extracts are Selections from his Com- 
plete Works, being chosen from parts of his 
Journal, never before published in England. 

So far as I am aware, there was only one 
Edition of his Entire Journal published, and 
that in America, in 1830, which soon getting 
out of print, has become very scarce. 

Job Scott died in 1793, and would therefore 
belong to the Mediaeval ages of Quakerism, 



IV. 



neither Ancient nor Modern. His simple and 
forcible language — familiar and unaffected 
style — render his exposition of the deepest 
spiritual truths and mysteries, both agreeable 
and easy of understanding. 

The variety of Doctrinal Subjects embraced 
in the Selected Extracts, makes this little book 
like a Compendium of all essential Quaker 
views and truths. 

In presenting a Copy to a few special friends, 
not of the Society of Friends, who are thought 
to have a hungering after righteousness and 
spiritual Truths, it is with a fervent desire that 
some of these precious Divine Teachings and 
Mysteries may be opened to their understand- 
ings, so as to produce conviction and benefit. 

The Substance, of these Doctrines and 
Teachings were well understood, and experi- 
mentally known, by nearly all members of the 
Early Quaker Society, in the first generations, 
— as well as by many of that day, not of the 
Society. 

Now, however, there are very few who 
comprehend or believe in these searching 
Truths ; they are too straight and abasing to 



the intelligent part of human nature ; — so 
Professors especially, seek an easier way, a 
more pleasant Salvation and Saviour, which 
will save, as they think, by imputation, with- 
out a New Birth, or Change of Nature, through 
the Atonement of Christ, only; a bare belief 
in which, they fancy and assert, will save them 
in their sins, not from their sins. 

This cheap and pretty doctrine, is very 
tempting and desirable, but it is not the whole 
truth, nor yet Quaker Doctrine. 

He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear. 

GEORGE PITT. 

Mitcham, Surrey, 

11th of 3rd Month, 1876. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface iii. 

Contents vii. 

Introduction ix. 

Salvation by Christ, (first essay) 1 

„ ,, (second „ ) 54 

(third „ ) 88 

On True Waiting 98 

On Divine Inspiration 100 

On Reason and Eevelation 101 

how many the letter kllls ! 106 

On Imputation 107 

On Reconciliation Ill 

Divine Wisdom hid from the Wise and Prudent 114 

On Christ being Within 118 

On Suffering with Christ 125 

On Immediate Revelation. 127 

On the Word 132 



Vlll. 

PAGE 

On Perfection 140 

On Prayer 142 

Again, On True Prayer 148 

On the Gospel 152 

On Heavenly Bread ; 165 

On Preaching for Hire 170 

On a Busy, Unsanctified Ministry 178 

On Lifeless English Ministry 175 

On Discipline 177 

On an Animated Ministry 179 

Few True Believers on Christ in us 181 

On Baptism 184 

That Living Christians will be Persecuted 18(5 



INTRODUCTION. 



The following is a portion of an Original Paper found 
among the Manuscripts of Job Scott, written the year 
before his Decease. It refers to his Journal, but more 
especially to his views on Salvation, which at that late 
period he substantially endorses. Whether he intended it 
as prefatory remarks or not, it seems applicable to insert 
it as an Introduction to his Essays on Salvation. 

G. P. 



I have preserved a Journal of my whole life. 
There are some things therein, that I am fully 
persuaded are true in the visions of God ; but which 
many of the wise, even in our Society, cannot 
receive, so as feelingly to approve and promote. 
* * >:< * * * * 

I know I have treated some mysteries a little 
more openly, and handled them a little differently, 
from what I have seen in any writings ; but as I 
am deeply grounded in them, as being the very 
life and substance of Christianity, indeed of all true 
religion, I am very doubtful that a suppression of 
them would retard, rather than promote, the true 
knowledge of Christ. I know many Friends are 
afraid of the objections of professors. No doubt, 
professors will object, as they always have done, to 
every unfolding of truth : but, what avail their cavils 



X. 

or, indeed, what avails their quiet with us, if it is in 
a way that allows them to live at ease in sin, under 
a mistaken notion that they are going to heaven 
by Christ ? It is time professors were aroused, and 
those of our own fold as well as others ; for great 
numbers among us can scarcely bear the true and 
undisguised doctrines of the gospel. 

Truth has rarely been promoted, after a time of 
stagnation, ease, and superficial profession, but in and 
through the fresh openings of something that the 
spirit of the world, however high in profession, could 
not receive ; and I am firm in the faith that the veil 
will yet further be rent, and the covering more and 
more removed, that is spread over the face of all 
nations. Times and seasons will come, wherein that 
which is revealed in the ear, must and will be 
declared on the housetop. The Lord is on his way, 
gradually unveiling himself to his enquiring, seeking 
children, and woe, woe, from an all-righteous Judge, 
to those who dare to lift a hand against the right - 
timed openings and revelations of his heavenly 
mysteries ! 

For my part, I fear not the heathen's rage, nor 
the people's imagination of vain things ; for I know, 
with all the certainty that I know any gospel truth, 
that in the midst of a high profession of Christ, 
darkness still covers the earth, and gross darkness 



XI. 

the people ; and I care not how soon their false rest 
is disturbed, yea, rather I wish it may be disturbed, 
and believe it will be so, for the spirit of the Lord is 
grieved with the lifeless, unsanctified, and unsound 
profession of Christianity that abounds in the 
nations. 

I would as soon trust my immortal state 
upon the profession of deism, as upon the 
common notions of salvation by Christ ! 
Many seem to think, if Christ, in name, be the 
object of their profession, they are certainly in 
the true faith ; whereas too few have any clear 
sense either what or where Christ is, and 
many are ready to quarrel with every thing that 
tends to open the mystery. I am as sure there 
is no salvation out of Christ, as I am of any 
thing in the world : I am also as sure that the 
common ideas of salvation are very greatly beside 
the true doctrine of salvation by Christ. And, 
moreover, I am as easy to risk my everlasting 
condition upon the true faith and fellowship of 
Christ, as inwardly revealed from glory to 
glory to those who keep a single eye to his holy 
light within them, as I am in believing that God 
made the heavens and the earth ! For I am 
indisputably ascertained, in the life and fundamental 
certainty of the true grounds of salvation by Christ; 



Xll. 

and that in all ages, it has been a real birth of God 
in the soul, a substantial union of the human and 
divine nature ; the son of God, and the son of man, 
which is the true Emmanuel state, God and man in 
an ever blessed oneness, and harmonious agreement : 
and I know Christ must sit at the right hand of 
eternal power in my soul, till his and my foes be 
made his . footstool, if ever I reign with him in 
fulness of glory. 

He is David's son, and as truly the son of every 
soul that is ever truly reconciled to God. The recon- 
ciliation takes place in none, without their becoming 
his mother; and yet he is David's Lord, and Lord 
of all in whom he is begotten. I acknowledge him 
my Lord, even as revealed in me, as he was in 
Paul: as such he is my hope of glory; and I 
agree with Paul, that " though we have known him'' 
by literal description " after the flesh, yet now 
henceforth know we him so no more ;" and with 
Christ himself, that " it is the spirit that quickeneth, 
the flesh profiteth nothing." And I do marvel, that 
after this plain testimony, from the Lord's own 
mouth, people will so rely on a knowledge and pro- 
fession of him, after the flesh, and condemn those 
whose faith and knowledge are after the spirit, in 
the holy sonship and newness of life. 

1st Mo. 28th, 1792. 



EEMAEKS 



UPON 



SHEWING THAT IT IS 

A BIRTH OF DIVINE LIFE IN MAN, 



LONG BEFORE THE APPEARANCE 

OF OUR LORD IN THAT BODY THAT WAS 

BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY, 

IX WHICH HE DID THE FATHER'S WILL, AND EXEMPLIFIED 
AND DISPLAYED THE WAY AND WORK OF SALVATION, 
AS A UNION OF GOD AND MAN : — A WORK OF GOD IN 
MAN, AND OF MAN BY GOD, IN A BLESSED HARMONY 
AND CO-OPERATION. 



) <» i » ♦■ c 



The work of salvation is neither, on the one hand, 
in any stage or degree of it, the work of man merely 
of himself, unassisted by the power and spirit of the 
Lord ; nor, on the other hand, a work of God without 
the consent and co-operation of man. Many ignor- 
antly entertain high notions of free-will, and of ability 
in and of themselves to act according to reason and 
the fitness of things ; and so to do, as mere creatures, 
all that is necessary towards their acceptance with 
God, and complete well-being during the whole of 
their existence. Others as ignorantly imagine the 



merits and righteousness of Christ imputed to the 
full justification and salvation of sinners, so as to render 
them truly justified, acceptable with, and reconciled 
to God, while they continue in daily transgression 
and sin, in the exercise of a will in opposition to his 
will, in the indulgence and enjoyment of a life contrary 
to the divine life. They seem to have a confused 
idea that the moral law of God is abrogated ; at least 
to such as have dependance on the outward coming, 
suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, and inter- 
cession of Christ for salvation ; or that these are un- 
der grace, and not under the law, though they live a 
life of sin and defilement ; and that such as maintain 
sanctification absolutely necessary to a state of justifi- 
cation, or that they are never separately experienced, 
the one without the other, deny the purchase of 
Christ's death, and are going about to establish their 
own righteousness ! 

But these opinions are very remote from the true 
doctrine of salvation, which has ever been, in all ages, 
Christ in man the hope of glory; a real union 
of the life of God and the life of man, and therein a 
blessed harmonious co-operation. The whole work of 
true religion, regeneration, and sanctification, is the 
work of God in Christ ; " We are his workmanship, 
created anew in Christ Jesus, (and that) unto good 
works." Eph. ii. 10. Good works, though not the 



producing cause of justification, yet are that, without 
which none can be justified. Men may do many 
works, which as to the outward act, are good, or 
which would have been truly so had they been works 
of the new creation, and wrought of God in Christ, 
and which yet have no part in the great work of true 
justification. 

Those who are thus busied, may be very zealous 
of " good works/' and at the same time very high 
in profession of Christ, and of a hope of salvation 
only through him, and yet be wholly on the 
wrong ground, built on the sand, and remain as 
gross Pharisees as those who formerly rejected 
our blessed Lord in high veneration of Moses ! 
Names do not much alter the nature of things. 
There is as much scope for self-righteousness and 
rank Phariseeism under a profession of Christ, yea, 
under a most confident profession of renouncing all 
our own righteousness, as ever there was under the 
law. Our preaching, praying, and all our religious 
and devotional exercises may be, and too often are, in 
the mere spirit, will, and activity of man : this is 
going about to establish our own righteousness, and 
not a whit the less so because we profess to have no 
dependance on our own works, but that we expect all 
from Christ ! Talk and profession are not the life 
and substance of salvation in Christ ; but this forward 



active worker, that is always ready, is ever, by this 
kind of zealous activity and performance, as effectually 
prevented from the right knowledge of, and submission 
to, the righteousness of Christ, even under the greatest 
profession of a single dependance on nothing but 
his righteousness, as any were of old in the professed 
rejection of him, and dependance on Moses. 

As to the life and substance of it, there never 
was but one true religion; nothing has ever 
been such, but the immediate inward work of 
God in man. And this, on the one hand, can 
take place and proceed no further than God is 
livingly the continual mover, worker, and efficient 
cause of all that is rightly wrought therein ; nor on 
the other hand, any further or faster than man 
comes under the holy influence of the Spirit, grace, 
or power of God, whereby he worketh in us. If 
man resists the Spirit, turns from the grace of God, 
rebels against his light in the heart, does despite to 
the holy discoveries of truth, he tramples under foot 
the very blood of the everlasting covenant, he rejects 
the Son of God, and in the midst of all his pro- 
fessional claim to the merits of a crucified Saviour, 
is crucifying the life of the Lamb in himself. And 
thus the Lamb has been slain from the foundation of 
the world, and is slain in all who thus do violence 
to the motions of divine life in themselves. u Christ 



in us/' has been in every age and nation, the only 
true and solid ground and hope of glory. Nothing 
but a true and living birth of God in the soul, of the 
divine and incorruptible seed, a real and substantial 
union of the divinity and humanity in one holy off- 
spring, has ever brought salvation ; and this, through- 
out all generations, (in all the true seed, in every heir 
of God, and joint-heir with Christ,) is the only begotten 
of the Father. None can be a true child of God with- 
out this divine birth, this true brother and sister of 
Christ, this real offspring of God, that cries, Abba, 
Father ! and is one with Christ for ever. This birth 
ever does the works of God. In this, and in its 
bringing forth, are wrought the " good works," 
without which there is no justification. 

Except we are regenerated and bora again ; that 
is, except another birth and life take place in us, 
besides our natural birth into, and life in this world, 
and into things natural ; except a work, that, strictly 
speaking, effects and produces a real regeneration 
and new birth, as real a conception, generation, and 
birth of the seed of God in us, and of us too ; as 
the production of our natural life is a real work of 
conception, generation, and birth into this world, we 
cannot possibly enter into the kingdom of God. This 
is the new .creature that is born of God, and sinneth 
not ; and this must have the rule and government in 



us, and bring forth the works of God, so far as we 
are justified. This is the justified of God for ever ; 
and nothing is justified of him but what is 
wrought in him. That which is wrought out of 
him, and out of his divine life, is excluded from his 
acceptance, and can never be heir of the promise. 
Every evil thought, word, and action, is and will be 
subject to eternal exclusion : and equally so is every 
sigh or groan, every prayer or sermon, every fast or 
thanksgiving, with every other religious exertion, 
that is not in the divine life and influence of God ! 
This is all but " Mount Sinai in Arabia, that is in 
bondage with her children." The bond- woman 
must be cast out. It is impossible that she 
should inherit the promise, or that her son, or any of 
her children, should be heir with Isaac, the son of 
the free woman, the son of promise, the son of God's 
immediate operation and power, born above and be- 
yond the ordinary operations of nature, with all the 
force and workings of her utmost activity and ex- 
ertion. It is only the son of promise, the offspring 
and begotten of God, that can ever do the works of 
God. 

This criterion our blessed Redeemer appealed to in 
the days of Jewish unbelief and opposition. He 
urged his doing the works of God, as a certain 
evidence of his being the son of God. And this had 



never been a certain evidence at one time and on one 
occasion, had it not been always so at all times and 
on all occasions. Could any else than the son of 
God, the new creature, the only begotten, the born 
again of the incorruptible seed and word of God, at 
any time have done the works of God, Christ's doing 
them would not have been a certain and infallible 
evidence of his sonship. This evidence is as sure 
and certain, to, in, and concerning all the seed, as it 
was then in, and concerning the holy head, the 
bishop and bridegroom of every soul, that is so 
opened and taught of God as to see and know that 
anything done by him in and by another, is truly and 
spiritually the work of God ; and is infallible evidence 
that a greater than Solomon is there, that Christ is 
there, come in the flesh in that man by his holy 
spirit ; that there is a real birth and babe of God, 
an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ, a true and 
living branch of the everlasting vine ; indeed, the 
presence, activity, and good works of God's 
only begotten. All other works are either directly 
the works of darkness and the devil, or at best, but 
the willings, runnings, and toilings of the son of the 
bond-woman, that never inherits the kingdom, nor 
can possibly enter into, or even see it. None other 
ever saw it than that which is begotten of God; 
that ever beholds it, dwells in it, and enjoys it as its 



8 

own, the rightful inheritance of him who only is God's 
heir forever. For though there is, in a sense, properly 
a plurality as brought forth in the many co-heirs of 
the inheritance, yet in the ground and substance of it, 
as in God, it is one heir, one offspring, one only be- 
gotten : and hence the assertion, " we, being many, 
are one bread ;" and hence Christ's prayer to the 
Father, that they might all be one, as he and the 
Father were one. They are all one in the everlasting 
principle of life and salvation, and they ever do the 
works of God, and are no further his children, nor 
born again of him, than they do his works. Nothing 
is more idle than to suppose anything is born again 
of God, that does not his works, or that sinneth against 
him. In all the begotten, the very seed and life of 
God remaineth, and " they cannot sin, because they 
are born of God." Many people pass through some 
small convictions, and perhaps pretty deep exercises, 
and finding a degree of relief and solid satisfaction, 
conclude that they are born again, and are now safe 
and sure. But no man is ever wholly born again of 
God, who is not brought wholly under his rule and 
government in all things. Every thing that revolts, 
rebels, or sins against him, is not born of him. A 
little leaven, in time, leavens the whole lump, as it is 
suffered to operate ; but until the whole is leavened, 
until every thought is brought into the obedience of 



9 

Christ, we are never wholly born of the incorruptible 
seed, and may be in danger of a total and final 
apostacy. 

Our real justification is ever in proportion to our 
real sanctification, and can no more outrun it, than 
real sound health of body can consist with pain, sick- 
ness, and putrefaction. Christ is our complete jus- 
tification. Nothing else ever was or will be any 
part of it. But Christ, as certainly as he is Christ, 
ever works the works of God ; and that in every soul 
that will have him to rule over him, or be his Lord 
and Saviour. We are complete in him, and in him 
alone, without any addition. No addition can be made, 
but what will ever be hurtful. But we are never 
complete in him any otherwise than as we are really 
in him, as the branch is in, belongs to, and is of the 
vine ; nor any further than we are thus in him, is he 
truly and substantially formed in us, and become 
our life and hope of glory : so far, and no further, he 
is the " end of the law," to us. He never repeals a 
jot or tittle of the moral law to any, further than it 
is fulfilled in them. It can never pass away till it is 
fulfilled : and it is never further fulfilled than the 
state of transgression is removed, on account of which 
it was added. 

" God is unchangeable." All the changeable dis- 
pensations result from, and are accommodated to, the 



10 

different states of mankind. There never was but 
one way of salvation, nor of remission of sins. Could 
any thing else ever have answered this purpose but 
the birth, life, and government of Christ in man, it 
would answer still, and as well now as ever. This 
was pointed to by the law and its ordinances, by John 
and his figurative and preparatory baptism ; and as 
far as the work of salvation was ever wrought in any 
age or dispensation, it was the work of God in Christ ; 
yet never was carried on and completed without the 
creature's consent and co-operation. Nothing, how- 
ever fervent, zealous, and devout, can have anything 
of the real nature of true religion in it, that is not in 
and of the life of God. And this goes on only to such 
a degree as the life and spirit, the will and activity of 
the soul, go on with and in it. All religious ac- 
tivity out of this, is but toiling in the night, and 
without divine help or direction. This gains nothing 
substantial : it is loss, and not true gain : it is dross 
and dung, and filthy rags. The sooner we lose it all, 
the better. But, on the other hand, all holding back, 
and declining to work with the Great Worker of all 
things in true religion ; all backwardness in letting 
down the net on the right side of the ship, in the 
break of heavenly light and day, and by his direction ; 
all staying behind when he pnts forth his sheep, goes 
before them, utters his voice, and calls upon them to 



11 

follow him, — are as effectual in preventing the work 
of salvation, as running, toiling, and willing of 
ourselves, in our own might and spirit, without him. 
We must through the divine workings of God by his 
grace and spirit in us, work out our own salvation. 
This is always the way it is wrought. We can do no 
more of it ourselves, unassisted by him, than " the 
Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his 
spots." And yet, even where it is done in the most 
sudden manner that ever it was known, it is done no 
other way, and no further, than as the will or spirit 
of man yields up, submits to, and becomes a co-worker 
with him who worketh all in all in true religion. All 
our springs are in God. He has wrought all our 
works in us. But the springs are no farther ours, 
and the work is no further wrought in us, than we 
suffer the obstructions to the arising and flowing of 
the well of life and salvation in us to be removed, and 
are willing to be wrought upon, formed, and fashioned 
by the Great Potter as he pleaseth. Our part is to 
be unresisting, as the clay in the hand of the potter. — 
The simile regards the non-resistance of the clay, but 
does not extend so far as to represent us inactive, 
unconscious, or without choice, will, or exertion, in 
this great work. It might as well represent us un- 
conscious, and entirely insensible, as inactive, or active 
as mere machines. It shows that we can do no more 



12 

merely of ourselves in it, than lifeless clay ; and that 
even where we are the most vigorously active in a right 
line religiously, our will and activity are not only 
wholly yielding and unresisting under the divine oper- 
ation, but they are no further or faster exertive in the 
work, than the Divine hand or influence is felt and 
extended, holds us fast, and puts us forward, forms 
and fashions us vessels of use and honour, as he pleases. 
And he never pleases to make any of us any thing in 
religion, either in ourselves or to others, without the 
consent, concurrence, and co-operation of our own 
minds and abilities in it. As we yield to his call and 
operation, the new formation, creation, and generation 
begin and advance. Old things are done away, all 
things become new, and all things of God ; and not 
of ourselves, without him. Here we are brought into 
reconciliation with him, and know our sins to be blotted 
out and freely remitted. Kemission of past sins is 
equally, in all ages, the act of divine grace. It is the 
mercy of God, in and through Christ the begotten ; his 
unchangeable nature, an attribute or excellency insep- 
arable from the Divine Essence. He cannot retain 
anger, or opposition, to a state not in opposition to 
him. Anger, as a passion, he has none ; he is 
always in himself the same, and always one. There 
is no twain in him. Love and wrath, compassion 
and vengeance, are not in him as different things, 



13 

or even as states or dispositions. It is more strictly 
proper to say, he is love, goodness, wisdom, power, 
compassion, a fountain of living waters, a consuming 
fire, &c, than to say he has such and such attributes, 
or properties. Indeed, I suppose the word attribute 
was originally used on this very ground, and implies 
that he has not any two different things or states in 
himself. But because he is all these, we attribute 
to him those different excellencies or qualities, which 
are familiar to our ideas. He is love, and always 
and altogether love ; he is goodness, and always 
and altogether goodness ; power, wisdom and justice, 
and always and altogether all these, and all are ever 
but one in him. Perhaps goodness is a word as 
expressive of what he is, as any. However, being 
goodness, he was and is prompted to create subor- 
dinate intelligences, thereby to diffuse bliss, happiness, 
and enjoyment. His eternal nature, (or say, love or 
goodness,) prompts him to visit, revisit, or operate 
upon, call and invite all that he has made capable of 
happiness or misery, in a spiritual sense. 

He cannot, (such is the purity and goodness of his 
eternal unchangeable nature,) make a sham invitation 
to any, and pass it upon them as a real and sincere 
one ! As his promise is yea and amen for ever, so is 
his call. All have heard it ; but they have a not all 
obeyed." Kom. x. 16. The call is as real to him 



14 

who does not, as to him who does obey. In order 
that we might be rational creatures, conscious of good 
and evil, and proper objects of reward and punishment, 
free agency was absolutely necessary to man. Hence 
results our capacity to obey, or disobey God's call ; 
to yield to, or resist the operations and workings of 
his power in us for salvation. And hence the divine 
equity of rewarding every man according to his works ; 
according to the deeds done in the body. He that com- 
mits sin works directly aga'inst God, against the divine 
call, the manifestation, and operation of God in 
himself. This is the evil of sin. It is hence the guilt 
and condemnation arise. It is rebellion against the 
light. The light shines in all; in "every man 
that cometh into the world." John i. 9. 

It not only is, but must be so, from the very 
nature, the goodness of God. " This is the con- 
demnation, that light is come into the world, and men 
love darkuess rather than light." None therefore 
have, nor ever can have, this condemnation, who have 
not had the light. Its coming cannot be to the 
condemnation of any but those who hate it. He 
that loves it, that lives in it, and conforms his deeds, 
his heart, his life to it, is and must be in union, com- 
munion, and reconciliation with God, the source of it, 
and from whom it shines an emanation of the Eternal 
Divinity. The word that was in the beginning with 



15 

God, and truly was God, is now, and ever was the light 
of all men, and the life of those in whom it obtains, 
in all things, the pre-eminence. These live by it ; 
or, as Paul expresses himself, it is Christ that liveth 
in them. Those who hate it, rebel against it, or 
work counter to it, are in a state of alienation and 
opposition to God, and therefore in guilt, and under 
condemnation. Here, to the fro ward, he must show 
himself froward ; he cannot change into a state of 
reconciliation with that which is counter to his eter- 
nal nature and essence, and to his operation on the 
soul, but is, and must be a consuming fire. If this 
produces an entire change in the creature, he is, he 
must be reconciled to God, and cannot possibly be so 
any other way. Nothing can cleanse from the filth 
of sin, and reconcile the soul to God, but that which 
removes the defilement and opposition to him. " The 
blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." This 
is the blood of the everlasting covenant, the blood of 
sprinkling ; and as it is felt and known to cleanse 
from all sin, it is evident that this is not a removal 
of the guilt, while the actual state of sin and trans- 
gression remaineth. Cleansing from all sin, and 
washing it away, are not effected while we are living 
daily and hourly in sin. Sin ever separates the soul 
from God. It is that which lets ; and it will let, till 
it is removed out of the way. 



16 

Full reconciliation to God is not consistent with a 
state of opposition to his holy law, his divine will, and 
working in ns. While filth and opposition to divine 
influence remain in man, there remains fuel for the 
fiery baptism of Jesus, nor can the floor of the heart 
be thoroughly cleansed till all defilement is removed. 
God and evil are in eternal contrariety, and as God 
cannot change, he cannot at one time be unreconciled, 
and at another time reconciled to the same state. Im- 
putation of Christ's righteonsness to sinners, so as to 
reconcile them to God in a state of actual sin, or 
alienation from him, is as impossible as to reconcile 
light and darkness, or Christ and Belial. It is a 
phantom that has risen up in the fogs and mists of 
benighted minds. It is attempting to climb up to 
heaven some other way than by Christ, the door. 
And yet such is the power of darkness, that this is 
called magnifying the merits of a crucified saviour, who 
never saves his people but as he saves them from 
their sins. 

He is the eternal Word, and as such is God. To 
us he is the emanation, or son of God's love. When 
he lives and reigns complete in us ; when he is our 
life, and has in all things the pre-eminence with us, 
and so is our complete justification, as such he must 
have been begotten and formed in us ; strictly 
and truly so ; for it is thus, and thus only, that we are 



17 

or can be complete in him. He is one in all the 
only begotten of God for ever. God alone is his Father. 
Every true believer is his mother. Hence he assures 
us, " Whosoever shall do the will of my Father 
which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and 
sister, and mother." Matt. xii. 50. And hence 
too he is the son of man. " What and if ye shall 
see the son of man ascend up where he was before ?" 
John vi. 62. The outward body of flesh and blood, 
which cannot inherit the kingdom of God, never came 
down from heaven. "He that ascended, is he that 
first descended." The outward body was prepared 
for him who came to do the divine will. It was the 
eternal holy Word that came down from heaven, and 
took flesh in that body ; and this divine Word having a 
conception and birth in man, becomes truly, and in 
the scripture sense, the son of man, as well as 
son of God; and so is both the root and offspring of 
David, according to Rev. xxii. 16, and as truly 
the seed of Abraham. It was not the outward 
body, nor the mere human nature, that was the seed 
of Abraham, in w*hich all the families of the earth are 
blessed. It was that living birth of divine life, whose 
day Abraham saw, and wherein he enjoyed the 
spiritual blessing. This is the seed of the woman 
that bruises the serpent's head. It was and is 
necessary, in order to our restoration and union with 



18 

God, that the life of the Deity, the holy word, should 
so operate as to bring forth in us a conception and 
birth of his own divine nature ; a real birth of the 
incorruptible seed and word of God. As in this holy 
offspring a real union of life, human and divine, is 
formed and brought forth, and as man herein becomes 
the mother of this heavenly offspring, this is really 
the seed of the woman, the seed of the church 
and spouse of Christ ; for it is not only as the seed 
of Mary or of Eve, that the only begotten is the seed 
of the woman. The souls in whom he is begotten 
and brought forth, are all in the relation of parent 
to him, as well as brethren and sisters ; and accord- 
ing to the nature of the work which forms this rela- 
tion, it is strikingly represented by the parent in the 
female line ; " Whosoever, &c. the same is my brother, 
and sister, and mother." And this is that begotten 
of God, and at the same time that son of man, which 
ascends up where he was before he became the 
son of man. And as God alone can be the father of 
this his only begotten, man at most can be his mother. 
And was not this a principal reason why his outward 
birth was of a virgin ; showing that God only is the 
Father of all that is truly begotten and born again 
of him, and holding forth, in striking analogy, this 
great and adorable mystery ? 

Let not the wisdom of man arise against it ; for 



19 

though it may appear blasphemous to some, it ap- 
pears to me perfectly consistent with our Saviour's 
formerly declaring himself both the son of man and 
son of God. Nothing was stranger to creaturely 
wisdom in that day, than the profession of a man to 
be the son of the Highest, though without such a 
relation actually formed, there was never any sal- 
vation to any individual. And herein is much of the 
glory, excellency, and efficacy of Christ's coming in 
that body. It wonderfully exhibits, illustrates, and 
exemplifies the nature of the great work of salvation, 
is a blessed pattern of it, and may, by way of eminence, 
be considered as containing the sum of it. It is all 
of the same nature in every individual, and was, is, 
and ever must be, through suffering and death, and a 
resurrection to newness of life. 

Much might be said in support of this doctrine. The 
scriptures bear ample testimony to it, though in a way 
that is hid from the natural reason of mankind, till 
illuminated from on high. When Peter knew Christ 
to be the son of God, Christ told him, flesh and blood 
had not revealed it unto him, but his heavenly Father. 
Matt. xvi. 17. This holds good to every individual. 
The world by wisdom never knew God, and never can 
know Christ. None know him, but those to whom 
the Father reveals him ; nor can any know the 
Father, but by the revelation of the son in themselves. 



20 

" No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the 
Holy Ghost." 1 Cor. xii. 3. This is the reason why 
" every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is 
come in the flesh, is of God." 1 John iv. 2. The 
evil spirits of old confessed him in words, but he re- 
jected their testimony, and suffered them not to speak. 
Luke iv. 41. For though they had an outward know- 
ledge who he was, they spake not by the holy ghost ; 
they were not of God. And thus thousands now con- 
fess him to have come in the flesh in that body, 
and are proud to call him Lord ; but none ever 
rightly call him so, but by the revelation of the 
Father. Therefore, on this rock only he builds his 
church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against 
it, though against every other building they can and 
do prevail. It is not merely confessing, though in 
full assent to the truth of it, that Christ did come in 
that one outward body, that determines any one to be 
of God ; the devils believe, confess, and tremble ; 
but none truly and thoroughly confess him without 
knowing (in the present tense) that he " is come in 
the flesh" in themselves, spiritually. 

' ' I will pray the Father, and he shall give you an- 
other comforter, that he may abide with you forever, 
even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot re- 
ceive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, 
' but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall 



21 

be in you. I will not leave you comfortless ; I will 
come to you : yet a little while and the world seeth me 
no more, but ye see me : because I live, ye shall live 
also. At that day, (that is, when I come again the 
second time, the comforter, to salvation,) ye shall 
know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I 
in you." John xiv. 16 to 21. This is the great mys- 
tery of godliness. God manifest in the flesh, is not 
confined to the flesh of that one body. * ' He that hath 
my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that 
loveth me ; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my 
Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself 
to him. Judas saith unto him, (not Iscariot,) Lord, how 
is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not 
unto the world ? Jesus answered and said unto him, 
if a man love me he will keep my words, and my 
Father will love him, and we will come unto him 
and make our abode with him ;" verses 21, 22, 23. 
" That which may be known of God is manifest in 
them." Eom. i. 19. The preaching of Jesus Christ 
according to the revelation of the mystery which was 
kept secret since the world began, but now is made 
manifest, "is Christ in you the hope of glory." 
Col. i. 27. "Always bearing about in the body," 
says the Apostle, " the dying of the Lord Jesus, 
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest 
in our body ; for we which live, are alway delivered 



22 

unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of 
Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal 
flesh." 2 Cor. iv. 10, 11. " We have this treasure 
in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the 
power may be of God, and not of us ;" 7. Here is 
plainly in us the death; the dying of the Lord 
Jesus, in order that his life may be manifest in us. 
This is baptism into his death, and rising with 
him into newness of life; the one soul-saving 
baptism. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that 
receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me, and 
he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." 
John xiii. 20. 

Great, indeed, is this mystery, much unknown to, 
yea, even rejected as enthusiasm, by many professors 
of Christ. No man can really receive any one 
that Jesus sendeth, and not as really receive him, 
(I mean absolutely him, the only begotten of God,) 
any more than we can receive Christ, and not receive 
the Father that sent him. " Verily I say unto you, 
inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matt, 
xxv. 40. Let none suppose he means simply, that he 
will accept it as if done unto him ; it is true in the 
strictest sense. It is actually done unto him in 
them, for they are all real "brethren;" " heirs of 
God, and joint-heirs with Christ." Eom.viii. 17. "He 



23 

that sanctifietli, and they who are sanctified, are all of 
one." Heb.ii. 11. "He that is joined unto the Lord is 
one spirit." lCor.vi.17. "We being many are one 
bread." x. 17. "I and my Father are one." Johnx. 30. 
Christ formed in man, is in the oneness with 
the Father. The begotten of God in every soul is 
one with him in the everlasting covenant ; as truly 
so, in measure, as there was a real oneness with God 
in the man Christ Jesus. 

" I have said, Ye are gods : and all of you are 
children of the Most High." Psalm lxxxii. 6. (And 
if children, then heirs.) And their dying like men, 
in the next verse, is as it happened to the blessed 
Jesus, as well as to*all his co-heirs and brethren. 
11 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, 
I said, " ye are gods ?" If he called them gods unto 
whom the word of God came, and the scripture 
cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father 
hath sanctified and sent into the world,thou blasphemest , 
because I said, I am the son of God ? If I do not the 
works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, 
though ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye 
may know and believe that the Father is in me, 
and I in him. John x. 34 to 39. For this they sought 
to kill him, or took up stones to stone him. And 
when he says the same thing now, in his joint- heirs 
and brethren, is it not condemned as rank enthusiasm, 



24 

if not blasphemy ? And yet this reasoning was then co- 
gent and unanswerable, and is equally true at all times, 
and in all the seed. None ever did the works 
of God but the seed, the son, the sent, and 
sanctified of the Father. This is the reason, " he 
that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all 
of one." He told them, the works he did, they 
should do, that is, the works of God. And that 
babe that is begotten, and bom of God, of the incor- 
ruptible seed, and so doth his works in every re- 
deemed soul, has always a right to say as he did, 
" But if I do the works of God, though ye believe not 
me, believe the works." But why believe the works? 
" That ye may know and believe, that the Father 
is in me, and I in him." Only believe the works 
and the point is settled at once. " For there is none 
good but one, that is God." No real good work can 
be done, but he doeth it. We are enabled to work 
out our own salvation, but it is only as God worketh 
in us and we work by him ; he in us and we 
in him. 

No mere man can receive this doctrine. Hence 
the divine truth and certainty of John Baptist's de- 
claration, " He that cometh from above, is above all : 
he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the 
earth : he that cometh from heaven is above all, and 
what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth, and 



25 

no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath re- 
ceived his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is 
true." John iii. 31 to 34. 

And who is this that receiveth his testimony ? 
Answer, No man, as man merely, but the begotten 
of God. " The world cannot receive him, because it 
seeth him not." " No man hath seen God at any 
time. The only begotten son which is in the bosom 
of the Father, he hath declared him." John i. 18. 
"And of his fulness have all we received." 16. Had 
we not, we could never rightly know God, nor re- 
ceive the testimony of the son. There is nothing 
else through which we can receive it. It is hid from 
the wisest of men except only so far as it is manifested 
to them in and by this. It is revealed only unto 
babes, that is, to his begotten. Men, as natural 
men, and as such considered as the work of God, are 
created. But the new born babes in Christ, though in 
a sense the work and creation of God, (as Christ is the 
beginning of it,) yet they are, as his production, not 
merely created as Adam; they are, strictly speaking, 
begotten. There is in their formation, a spiritual 
conception and birth in the soul. The Father, by the 
overshadowing of the holy ghost upon the willing 
mind, which embraces and yields to the visitations, 
operations, and wooings of his love, begetteth and pro- 
duceth a true and real birth of divine life, a conception 



26 

and birth of that which is truly and properly his only 
begotten forever, being one in all his spiritual offspring. 
This is he that is born again of God, of the incorrupt- 
ible seed and word of God. 

In the production of this conception, generation, and 
birth, there is both Father and mother. He that be- 
gets, is the only possible Father of this the only be- 
gotten. The soul in whom this conception and birth 
is effected, is the mother ; and here " the man is not 
without the woman, nor the woman without the man 
in the Lord." This conception and birth cannot 
possibly be effected by the mother without the Father, 
and is never produced by the Father without the con- 
sent of the mother. There must be a celestial union, 
a real co-operation, wherein two become one. Of 
twain the one new man is made, which is God and 
man in the heavenly and mystical fellowship and union. 
This is the mystery of Christ. This is what is held 
forth strikingly and livingly in his birth of the virgin 
Mary ; and this ever was, and ever will be the only 
possible way of salvation. This is the new creature, 
that being born of God sinneth not ; indeed, cannot 
sin, and that for this very reason, because " his seed 
remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is 
born of God ;" (1 John iii. 9 ;) as really so, as one 
was ever born of another in natural procreation. 

The natural man, the mere creature, as the 



27 

work of God, is a created being ; he never saw God, 
cannot know him, nor receive the testimony res- 
pecting the mystical union and sonship : but the babe, 
the begotten, that with a true and living knowledge 
of its sonship, cries Abba, Father, both sees and 
knows the Father, aud receives the heavenly testi- 
mony. For Christ, speaking of this mystery, says, 
* ' Take heed that ye despise not one of these little 
ones, for I say unto you, that in heaven, their angels 
do always behold the face of my Father which is in 
heaven." Matt, xxviii. 10. And again, calling them 
sheep, he says, " My sheephear my voice, "&c. John x. 
27. Thus they receive his testimony, but will not 
receive that of a stranger. ' ' All that ever came before 
me, are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not 
hear them;" verse 8. Were Moses, and the prophets, 
and John, who came before him to prepare his way, 
thieves and robbers ? Nay, verily, they came not before 
him in this sense ; for he came in them, and was 
their leader ; and all the real message of God by 
them, was through him. He is "the word of 
the Lord," that came unto them. The same word 
that was in the beginning. But whenever man, 
of himself, out of Christ, meddles in the things of 
God, he is a thief, takes that which is not his, sets 
his post by God's post, and robs the babe of his honour. 
Here is the ground and rise of idolatry. Here is 



28 

antichrist in the temple of God, exalted over the 
seed of God in man, and got up above all that is 
truly called God, and rightly worshipped. 

Christ is the door. Is there a door of entrance 
into the kingdom in our hearts ? If so, it is Christ 
in us ; there is no other door, nothing can open to 
receive him, nor enter into the kingdom with him, 
but that which is of him ; all else is, and ever will 
be, darkness, and cannot comprehend the light, or 
receive it. Nature works against it ; men love 
darkness rather, and as men merely, ever will. 

" Israel is my son, even my first born." Exodus iv. 
22. This is true for ever ; for Israel, the begotten 
and born of God, even when the seed of Abraham 
suffered in Egypt, was truly his only son, his first 
born ; and hence he speaks of all the seed in the 
singular number. " Israel is my son, my first born." 
This could not have been true, had not this Israel been 
the seed of Abraham spiritually ; and in the same 
sense Christ is so called ; that is, not seeds as of 
many, but the one seed, which is Christ in all the 
heirs and brethren. a This day have I begotten thee," 
is, through all time, the language of the Father. ' ' Un- 
to us a child is born, unto us a son is given, "(Isa. ix. 
6,) is as true at one time as another, in the present 
tense, withont looking backward or forward. They 
ate the spiritual meat, and drank of the spiritual rock, 



29 

when Israel, God's son, was called out of Egypt, long 
before the Virgin Mary, " and that rock was Christ.' ' 
They not only ate outward manna, they ate the same 
spiritual meat the saints ever live by, else they 
had no life in them ; there was never any other 
possible way for men to have divine life in them. 

To know God and Christ is life eternal. He is in 
all; all have of his fulness, and yet thousands are dead 
because they do not know him; they eat not his 
spiritual flesh, nor drink his spiritual blood, and so 
cannot live by him. " He that eateth me, shall live 
by me," says he. He is hid and buried in them. 
He is as " leaven hid ;" (the very seed of the kingdom ;) 
Matt. xiii. 33. A talent laid np in a napkin ; or buried 
in the earth, Luke xix. 20 ; Matt. xxv. 18 ; over- 
looked and rejected, yea, trampled under foot, as an 
unholy thing, although it is the very blood of the ever- 
lasting covenant. Heb. x. 29. " The corner stone," 
which all the wise builders among men, as men, have 
ever rejected; but to those who come to know him, 
and build in and by him, he becomes " the head of 
the corner." Acts iv. 11. There is wisdom in the 
word become ; " is become the head of the corner ;" 
for he is so to none, but as he becomes so. The 
head-stone in religion, and even in the profession of 
Christ, is always another thing to natural men, how- 
ever zealous and full of faith, as they may suppose, 



30 

whilst he lies hid and buried in them, though they cry 
up ever so loudly his former appearance in that body. 
Thousands do so, and yet know no more of him than the 
Jews did. They who then received his testimony, and 
saw his glory, as the only begotten of the Father, 
full of grace and truth, saw through the veil of his 
flesh, or they had never seen him, or livingly known 
him in that appearance ; and none now rightly know 
him, that stick in that appearance, and see no further. 
" Though we have known Christ after the flesh," says 
the apostle, "yet now henceforth know we him no 
more." 2 Cor. v. 16. 

" Lo, I come," says he, and "a body hast thou 
prepared me." Heb. x. 57. The I that came, 
the me the body was prepared for, is he who says, 
" Before Abraham was, I am." Hence all who knew 
him, knew the Father also, and all who now know 
him, know the Father ; there is no possible failure of 
this. "If ye had known me, ye should have 
known my Father also; and from henceforth ye 
know him, and have seen him. Philip saith 
unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth 
us : Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time 
with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He 
that hath seen me, hath seen the Father ; and how 
sayest thou then, show us the Father ?" John xiv. 
7, 8, 9. It seems Philip had not yet fully learned 



31 

this mystery ; and this is the case with many who 
are in degree his disciples. Paul says, 6i Ye are the 
body of Christ, and members in particular." 1 Cor. 
xii. 27. "As the body is one, and hath many 
members, and all the members of that one body being 
many, are one body ; so also is Christ. For by one 
spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we 
be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and 
have been all made to drink into one spirit ;" verses 
12, 13. 

It is plain this body of Christ is spiritual ; for we 
are members of it by baptism of the one spirit into 
it ; by drinking into the one spirit. It is not our 
outward bodies that compose, and are the members 
of Christ's body, but it is the birth of Christ in us ; 
it is a union of the life of God and the life of man ; 
and thus the apostle's simile is beautifully instruc- 
tive ; the outward body is one with the head, the 
members are all of the body ; "so also is Christ." 
The begotten are all members of the body; the 
body is one with and in the head, " and the head of 
Christ is God." And when the birth of Christ is 
fully formed in man, and grown up to the measure 
of the stature and fulness of sonship, where every 
thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of 
Christ, so that God becomes all in all, here the 
holy Head is known. Christ is the head of every 



32 

man, and God is the head of Christ ; that is, Christ 
the begotten entirely governs the whole man, as 
the head directs and governs all the members of 
the body ; and God the Father, as the head of Christ, 
entirely guides, governs, and in all things directs the 
begotten. 

" I am the true vine," says Christ, " and my Father 
is the husbandman." John xv. 1. Are the vine and 
the husbandman one ? Answer, yes, in the heavenly 
union and mystery : the wisdom of man makes it non- 
sense ; but if the vine and the husbandman are one, 
surely then, so are the vine and the branches. " I am 
the vine, ye are the branches." 5. " Every branch in 
me that bearethnot fruit, he taketh away." 2. "As 
the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide 
in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me." 4. 
" If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, 
and wither eth." 6. " If ye abide in me, and my words 
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be 
done unto you." 7. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my 
name, that will I do." John xiv. 13. As he cannot 
deny himself, a branch abiding in him, and asking in 
his name, cannot ask without receiving ; therefore it 
holds good for ever, "Ask, and ye shall receive." It 
cannot possibly fail, for, says he, " The words that I 
speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father 
that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." 10. Just 



33 

so every branch in him may say, " I speak not of my- 
self, I ask in thy name ; it is thy word that speaks, 
and asketh in me;" " I live, yet not I, it is Christ 
that liveth in me." This is he, that in all the truly 
begotten can always say, " I know that thou nearest 
me always." This is true prayer, and no other is so ; 
all other is but the noise, the voice and breath of man, 
and is not answered ; it receives not ; it falls to the 
ground ! 

But let us now hear the great wisdom of man, that 
God has made real foolishness with him. " What ! " 
says the reasoner, the wise disputerof this world, " how 
can the branch and vine be one, if the branch may be 
cast forth, and withered?" This is just as wise as 
the reasoning of the Jews, " We have heard out of the 
law, that Christ abideth for ever, and how sayest thou, 
the son of man must be lifted up ?" John xii. 34. 
Can the branch be cast forth, and wither outwardly ? 
It can. Was it not therefore of the vine ? It was. 
Can Christ be crucified afresh in spirit, and put to 
open shame ? Can the blood of the covenant be trod- 
den under foot and despised ? Can despite be done to 
that holy spirit of grace and salvation ? Can a birth 
of real life be stifled and slain ? It can. Was the 
4 * Lamb slain from the foundation of the world?" 
Was this said only of what should be afterwards ; 
or was it really done from the very foundation ? It 



34 

was really done ; it is still done in thousands. In 
the very day that Adam ate the forbidden fruit he died. 
Death took instant place in him, upon that which was 
before alive in him, only in the life of the Lamb. 
Here the Lamb was slain in him; here the branch 
was cast forth and withered. 

I know it is a mystery too high for mere man to com- 
prehend ; but man can laugh it to scorn, and bring 
forth his strong reasons against it ; yea, render it im- 
possible ; for impossible it is, and ever will be to this 
world's wisdom. I do not expect to escape censure 
and severe ridicule ; for I know that no man as man 
merely, reeeiveth the true undisguised testi- 
mony of the son, because it is "foolishness unto 
him." 1 Cor. ii. 14. To preach " Christ crucified, 
was to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks 
foolishness." Chap. 1. 23. To preach this doctrine 
in its full extent, is now both a stumbling block 
and downright foolishness unto the creature, as much 
as ever ; but to such as see it in the light, it remains 
to be both " the power of God, and the wisdom of God ; 
because the foolishness of God is wiser than men ; 
and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 24, 
25. This is " the wisdom of God in a mystery, even 
the hidden wisdom (for it remains hid to this day) 
which God ordained before the world unto our glory; 
which none of the princes of this world knew." ii. 7, 8. 



35 

11 Now we have received, not the spirit of the 
world, but the spirit which is of God ; that we might 
know the things that are freely given to us of God." 
12. There is a measure of the spirit, grace, light, 
and life of the son, freely given to all men to profit 
withal ; but none savingly know it, but those who 
give up to its motions in themselves, so as to receive 
it for their teacher ; then they see clearly, it had been 
freely given them of God before, though it lay 
long hid and buried, and they knew T it not. " If thou 
knewest the gift of God," said Christ to the woman, 
" and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink ; 
thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have 
given thee living water." John iv. 10. This gift of 
God was he that dwelt in that body ; which, whoever 
saw, saw also the Father. This gift was not only 
then near her, but had been in her, and is in all; 
and had she known it before she saw the Lord Jesus 
outwardly, even as it talked with her, and was the 
gift of God to her inwardly, she might have asked 
of him, and received the living water ; even as Israel 
of old drank of that spiritual rock that truly was 
Christ: and is now in every believer "a well of 
water springing up into everlasting life ;" according 
to his promise, " He that believeth on me, as the 
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers 
of living water." John vii. 38. 



36 

This is the salvation of God in every age and dis- 
pensation ; coming into this living faith, in full sub- 
jection to this inward holy gift of God, is our only re- 
conciliation with him. This inward gift is the mediator 
between God and man ; it was so in the body prepared 
by him to do the Father's will in ; it is so now in all. 
It is not one thing in him, and another in us. This 
is the bond of union, that unites God and the soul in 
the divine and saving fellowship ; " He that is joined 
unto the Lord is one spirit.' ' A will, opposite to the 
divine will, is self-will, is enmity to God; nothing 
but the cross of Christ can ever " slay the enmity ;" 
hence no true disciple, but by the daily cross, and 
denial of self: this brings all into the one will, 
crucifies the old man, with his affections and lusts. 

Without death, there is no new life ; even under 
the law, " without shedding of blood there was no re- 
mission." The life was taken ; here was suffering 
for sin, in the figure. Burnt offerings pointed out 
the necessity of fire, the saving baptism of Jesus ; 
who, when he came, passed through the fiery baptism 
of extreme sufferings, outward and inward; till at 
length he endured the pangs of death, and poured 
forth his very " soul an offering for sin." Isa. liii. 10. 

And it now remains that what is yet behind 
of his sufferings and afflictions be filled up in us. 
Col. i. 24. His sufferings are not ended ; tl For as 



37 

the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our con- 
solation also aboundeth by Christ." 2 Cor. i. 5. 
Again, " As ye are partakers of the sufferings, so 
shall ye be also of the consolation;" 7. "If so be 
that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified 
together." Eom. viii. 17. Here we suffer with him, 
expressly in order that we may be glorified to- 
gether. " If we be dead with him, we shall also 
live with him ; if we suffer, we shall also reign with 
him ; if we deny him, he will also deny us." 2 Tim. 
ii. 11, 12. "Kejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers 
of Christ's sufferings." 1 Peter, iv. 13. "That I 
may know him, and the power of his resurrection, 
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made 
conformable unto his death." Phil. iii. 10. 
This is the baptism that now saves us ; it is not a 
figure ; we never receive remission of sins, but in 
the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, and con- 
formity to his death ; this was always the only way. 
So that of old, when blood was taken for atonement, 
and no remission was had without blood, the out- 
ward was but the shadow, and of itself procured 
no remission, no reconciliation. It is, through 
all time, only by the death and sufferings of Christ, 
that we can be, or any could be, reconciled to God. 
And as none obtained this blessing by the offerings 
themselves, without knowing in themselves a death 



38 

to sin, a fellowship in the sufferings of the holy 
seed, so none can now receive it otherwise. 

The death and sufferings of Christ in that body 
are of great price in the sight of God, and in all things 
have the pre-eminence in the view of the saints. 
Therein was wonderfully held forth the way of salva- 
tion, as a work of God in man, and of man by God ; 
that it is all through suffering, a wounding to 
heal, and killing to make alive in God. He, the 
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, has always 
borne the chastisement of our peace ; nor without his 
stripes were any ever healed. God hath laid on 
him the iniquities of us all, but unless we partake in 
the chastisement, and feel his stripes, we are not 
healed ; for he that will save his life, shall lose it ; 
but he that will lose his life, and die with Christ, 
shall save it unto life eternal. Ever of old, "in all 
their afflictions, he was afflicted, and the angel of his 
presence saved them." Isaiah lxiii. 9. They had his 
real presence, or all else had been useless : they 
were afflicted with him, as well as he with them, 
and those who know not reconciliation with God and 
remission of sins in this way are not reconciled 
to him. But this is death to man's will and wis- 
dom too ; he wont endure it ; he had rather believe, 
or pretend to believe, anything than die into life. 
His whole aim as man, in his own activity in religion, 



is to climb up some other way ; and among his 
many inventions, that he may seem to come in by 
Christ, he has hewn out the broken cistern of 
the imputation of Christ's righteousness to man in 
transgression ! But his righteousness is forever un- 
imputable to all who have not died with him to sin, 
and risen in the power of his resurrection to newness 
of life ; it can be no further imputed to any, than they 
are actually conformed to his death, and the fellow- 
ship of his sufferings. There is an eternal distance 
and separation between Christ and all that is unholy. 
No grain of his righteousness was ever imputed to 
any soul, but in exact proportion to its actual sancti- 
fication, or submission to the divine will. What can 
be more absurd, than to suppose Christ's sufferings 
have altered HIM, who is always unchangeably the 
same ? or that HE sees us any otherwise than as 
we are, in our actual state and condition ? I can have 
no expectation of salvation by Christ, without the fel- 
lowship of his sufferings, and conformity to his death. 
But, blessed forever be the name of the Lord, I 
have known something of the power of Christ to sal- 
vation. I know certainly that there is no other name 
given under heaven, whereby men can be saved. But 
who is this saviour? u I, even I, am the Lord, and be- 
sides me there is no Saviour." Isaiah xliii. 11. This 
is he who ever liveth; his taking flesh has tended 



40 

powerfully to unveil the mystery, and show man that 
salvation is a work of God and man in union, wrought 
out through suffering, fear, and trembling. This was 
ever the only way. The sufferings of Christ for the 
salvation of men, began not when he took flesh of the 
Virgin Mary, nor are his sufferings one thing in na- 
ture or kind in the head, and another in the mem- 
bers. " If one member suffer, all the members suffer 
with it; or one member be honoured, all the mem- 
bers rejoice with it." 1 Cor. xii. 26. All is in the 
oneness. Suffering and being put to death in the 
flesh or fleshly motions, has ever been the alone way 
to know the quickening of the spirit ; the only trodden 
path to glory. The sufferings of the seed in that one 
specially prepared body, could do no more towards 
reconciling a soul to God, than the blood of bulls and 
goats towards the washing away sin, were it not that 
the promise is sure to all the seed; and that the seed 
is one in all, its sufferings one ; its reigning and re- 
joicing one. The seed, the life, the begotten, was 
of old pressed as a cart with sheaves. How the divine 
life so unites w r ith humanity as to be capable of suf- 
fering, is a question too high for human wisdom ; but it 
is the truth, and the only true way of salvation, learnt 
only in the rending of the veil, and in removing the 
covering that, in the first state, is spread over all 
nations. 



41 

It is God's will that that be "not first which is 
spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterwards 
that which is spiritual." Our state is first natural, 
our acquaintance is with natural things ; our ideas 
and conceptions natural ; by degrees the eternal 
holy Word, that was with God, and was God, that 
is nigh in the heart and in the mouth, and enlightens 
all men, more and more operates upon us, to illu- 
minate, to burn, to quicken, awaken, plead with, and 
demand audience, and dominion in us : this is God's 
goodness for our redemption ; and what says he ? 
"I will overturn, overturn, overturn, and it shall be 
no more till he come, whose right it is, and I will 
give it him." And Christ says, " I am come to send 
fire on the earth ; and what will I if it be already 
kindled?" Forever lauded be his goodness to the 
souls of men, it was, it is already kindled ; it burns 
as an oven (that is, inwardly,) in order to refine us 
as silver is refined! "Verily there is a vein for 
silver, and a place for gold where they fine it." 
" Gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in 
the furnace of affliction." The Lord's fire is ever in 
Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. " The light of 
Israel shall be for a fire ; and his Holy One for a 
flame," and it shall kindle in the thickets ; the briers 
also and thorns shall be burnt up. This is all inward, 
for redemption and salvation : it is so in all, as far 



42 

as it is not quenched. But men may and do quench 
the spirit, this spirit of judgment and burning ; but 
those who cease to quench it, soon find the good 
effects of it ; it kindles up more and more, till the 
chaff is consumed, and the wheat is gathered into 
the Lord's garner. 

This is the baptism of Christ ; the one baptism, 
as old as Abraham ; known to all that have ever known 
salvation. As this work of refinement advances, the 
veil rends, the covering is gradually removed, until 
the veil is done away in Christ. Here the spiritual 
understanding and discernment kre gradually received ; 
here we know the meaning of these words : " After- 
wards that which is spiritual !" God never intended 
men should know these things by natural reason, or 
by a man's own spirit. The natural man cannot know 
them ; they are foolishness unto him ; and only to be 
spiritually discerned. The acutest philosopher is 
herein as great a fool as any; hence some of the 
greatest sons of natural science, the very darlings of 
genius, and masters of reason, have been and now are 
deists ! 

I confess, I see nothing so absurd in deism, at least 
nothing so repugnant to the good sense and common 
understanding of mankind, as I see in what some of 
the great doctors of divinity, so termed, hold forth for 
the doctrines of the Gospel ! I dont question, if any 



43 

of these should read this little treatise, but they will 
feel in their own estimation, able to swallow me up 
at once, and confound all my wild enthusiastic 
notions, as they may call them, by the force of 
human reason, as Behemoth " trusteth that he can 
draw up Jordan into his mouth." Job xl. 23. " His 
bones are as strong pieces of brass ; his bones are 
like bars of iron." 18. So may seem the strength 
of carnal reasoners. But a word by the way : " He 
that made him, can make his sword to approach 
unto him !" 19. May the sword of the spirit ap- 
proach to, and penetrate the hearts of such professors 
as these. But if I knew Christ no otherwise than 
they teach, describe, and declare him, I think I must 
be either a sceptic or a deist. I can never see the 
connexion between the sufferings of a body of flesh, 
seventeen or eighteen hundred years ago, and the 
salvation of an immortal soul at this day, without 
seeing those sufferings connected with the 
sufferings of the seed, that is one in ail. 
The seed groaned on Calvary, the seed groans in all ; 
11 Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting 
for the adoption, the redemption of our body." The 
whole creation of mankind, groans more or less to be 
delivered into the liberty of the children of God. 
And this salvation by Christ, the suffering seed, the 
lamb slain from the foundation of the world, is, in 



u 

this way, the most glorious display of infinite wisdom. 
But I think the systems, by some promulgated for 
the gospel of salvation by Jesus, as full fraught with 
absurdity, as almost any thing I have met with in 
Mahometanism, or the ancient mythology of the 
heathen. 

The world by wisdom knew not God then, nor can 
the wisdom of the world a whit more know him now. 
This wisdom has got hold of things given by inspira- 
tion and revelation from God to his children, and 
doubts not its full competency to the comprehension, 
methodising, and promulgation of the gospel ! This 
wisdom reads, " There are three that bear record in 
heaven," and will have it, these are three distinct 
persons in one God, and rivers of human blood 
have been shed in consequence of the contentions that 
have been about this mystery ! As they handle it, 
they advance natural flesh and blood to divinity; they 
deify a person of shape and dimensions, and look for 
his coming, as such, to judgment. They make, in 
short, three Gods ; and yet say there is but one 
God ! But the three that bear record in heaven, are 
known where God reveals them, and never elsewhere. 
No mystery can be declared from God, and gain cre- 
dence, but anon, the poor finite wisdom of the creature 
presumes to ]ay hold of it, and vainly proceeds to ab- 
solute determinations ; and then often seeks to enforce 



45 

these notions on mankind, sometimes by the point of 
the sword, sometimes by fire and fagot : and were I 
an honest deist, I must endure their tortures, be- 
fore I could subscribe to their dogmas. 

Let the creature be passive till life leads to action ; 
let man be a fool as he is, and wait on God for in- 
struction, and he will at least avoid the labyrinths of 
learned absurdity ; and may learn that the infinite 
Jehovah, the great I AM, as the eternal self- existent, 
omnipotent, and first cause of all things, ever reigns 
properly God, and is one. As the begetter of life 
divine in mortals, the babe that cries Abba, Father, 
and to which alone divine mysteries are, or can be re- 
vealed, he is properly the Father; and such too 
in a larger sense : for as there is in the depth of 
every soul, at least a panting conception of the incor- 
ruptible seed and word of life, he maybe called " the 
Father of us all." How far he is, or is not, properly 
the Father of all created intelligences, all animated 
nature, I am not curious to enquire, or anxious to 
decide. But as putting forth his power, or uttering 
his voice, or as power put forth, or a voice uttered, 
in order for production or creation, or in order for 
diffusion of bliss, he is the holy word : also, as 
manifesting in intelligible language the divine will to 
the ear of the soul, he is the word of the Lord ; 
the word nigh in the heart and mouth ; not only in 



46 

the heart, for when the prophets speak, " it is (as 
Christ said) not ye that speak, but the spirit of your 
Father that speaketh in you." And as he speaketh 
in them, and by or through them, to others, he is also 
the word in the mouth, as well as in the heart. 
As a production, or as being begotten and brought 
forth in man, in a state of dependance and want, and 
looking up to a superior preserver, feeder, and helper 
in every sense, he becomes a son ; and this was our 
saviour's state in that body, and is the state of son- 
ship in all. He was dependant, he was tried and 
tempted in all things as we are ; hence his sympathy 
with all the seed ; he is touched with a feeling of all 
our infirmities ; is a merciful and faithful high priest; 
and being himself tempted, knows how to succour 
them that are tempted. He could do nothing without 
his Father; "My Father worketh hitherto, and I 
work," said he. " My Father is greater than I.' ' "But 
of that day and that hour knoweth no man ; no, not the 
angels which are in heaven, neither the son, but the 
Father." Mark xiii. 32. As a son he was begotten; 
this implies Father and mother ; every one in whom 
he is begotten is his mother ; and as he is begotten 
in all these, so is each of these his sister and 
brother ; and as he is married to these, they are his 
wife, bride, or spouse. 

Much more might be said of the state of sonship ; 



47 

but " who will believe our report, and to whom hath 
the arm of the Lord been revealed ?" Who can bear 
to hear that the son differs nothing (as the apostle 
saith) from a servant, for a season, though he be 
Lord of all ? Who can allow him to lay in a manger, 
and then to be under tutors and governors until the 
time appointed of the Father ? But so he is in all, 
whether men know it or not, and so he was in that 
body. He submitted to his parents, obeyed and 
learned gradually, " learned obedience by the things 
he suffered." He advanced by degrees, and grew in 
" stature and in favour with God and man." And 
though he never sinned, yet "he died unto sin once;" 
that is, unto the motions, which, if obeyed, had 
brought forth sin ; for he had a will as a man ; as a 
man his nature was reluctant to the cross. "If it 
be possible, let this cup pass from me ;" but he abode 
in subjection, " not my will, but thine be done." 
Just the path we all must tread to glory, the way we 
all must walk, if ever we obtain salvation. He must 
reign in us, till he puts all enemies under him in us. 
Here he must sit at God's right hand, the right 
hand of omnipotence, in every soul, till eternal power 
makes all his foes his footstool ; till he puts down 
all other rule and authority in us but his own ; till 
perfect obedience and subjection takes place ; till our 
will is swallowed up in the divine will. Here, as 



48 

mediator, having made perfect reconciliation, he 
renders up the kingdom to the Father ; and God 
becomes all in all. Death is swallowed up in victory. 
Here he rises from the grave, bursts the bands of 
death, puts off the grave clothes, mortal puts on 
immortality, rises from the sepulchre, notwithstanding 
the sealing of the stone, and setting of the watch ; 
and yet after all this, " touch me not, for I am not 
yet ascended." Wait to have an ear open to receive 
this, and wait his ascension over all in thee ; be not 
hasty; " he that belie veth shall not make haste." 

There is a time and season for all things ; and if 
thou abidest in the patience, and touchest him not, 
thou shalt see and know all power, both in heaven 
and earth, committed unto him, though he has only 
been under tutors. He through death re-unites with 
the Omnipotent, from whom he was put forth into a 
state of want, weakness, and dependance ; that is, 
all self-will or reluctance, every motion that' had 
striven against, or attempted to strive against the 
motion of divine life in the will of the Father, is 
slain, all yields up, and G-od becomes all in all. 
Now he leads captivity captive, ascends over all, and 
sits down in the throne of the kingdom; principalities 
and powers being made subject to him. Here, he 
that laid down his life, and was a servant to all, — 
having first come forth from the bosom of the Father ; 



49 

being conceived in man, and brought forth, truly 
the son of man ; swaddled and laid in the manger, 
scarce finding where to lay his head ; persecuted, 
reviled, spit upon, crowned with thorns, crucified, 
dead, and buried, — rises superior to all the powers 
of darkness, and all the gates of hell ; and ascends 
up where he was, before he came forth from the 
Father. This is the seed of the woman that bruises 
the serpent's head ; not then first the seed of the 
woman when born of Mary, but as early as a birth of 
God was brought forth in man. This is he of whom 
Moses in the law, and the prophets did write ; whom 
Moses calls the word in the mouth and the heart ; 
the true seed of Abraham, and of David in spirit. 

"Hosannah to the son of David; blessed is he 
that cometh in the name of the Lord." 

Now this immortal birth is ever begotten by the 
overshadowing of the Holy Ghost ; by the influence 
of the Holy Spirit, the babe of life is conceived ! 

God is a spirit ; why ? because he quickens and 
giveth life, or maketh alive ; his influence on the 
soul is felt — enlivening, animating, and invigorating 
its faculties. The beginning and progress in all true 
religion is in God as a spirit ; the renewing of the 
Holy Ghost, is the comfort and consolation of the 
begotten of God ; it is the very life of God, that is 
food for the soul ; the flesh and blood of the son, 



50 

which the saints feed on and live by, and which he 
explains thus : " It is the spirit that quickeneth, 
the flesh profiteth nothing." Indeed, if ye can 
receive it, it is the very " blood of God." 

This Holy Spirit instructs, as well as clothes, 
feeds, and strengthens the begotten ; in short, God 
is all in all, in beginning, carrying on, and com- 
pleting the work ; and finally it will be seen so, 
when all comes into full subjection to him. But as 
in putting forth his power in created intelligencies, 
in the progress of the work carried on between God 
and the soul, by God in man, and by man through 
God, there is begetting, there is the begotten, there 
is assisting, instructing, feeding, clothing, and up- 
holding the begotten, "till we all come in the unity 
of the faith, and of the knowledge of the son of God, 
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature 
of the fulness of Christ;" (Eph. iv. 13.) so, though 
God is eternally but one, and there is no twain at 
all in him, not even love in him, in any wise different 
from wisdom, goodness, power, wrath, vengeance, or 
anything that is in him ; yet as it is very proper to 
speak of these several attributes or perfections, and 
of divers operations, according to what he operates 
upon — a fountain of living waters to the faithful; 
a consuming fire to the man of sin, (as the sun softens 
wax and hardens clay, and yet not two acts, or different 



51 

operations in the sun itself;) so the distinction of 
Father, son, and spirit is proper, and there is a sub- 
stantial, experimental ground for it ; yea, further, for 
the distinction " of God, and of the Father, and of 
Christ ;" as we find Paul expresses it. 

He that pleases may make himself sport with these 
mysteries, but I can tell him, had he lived in our sa- 
viour's day in that body, in the same disposition, 
he would have ridiculed him, and his living testimony 
to the truth, as much as he now does the unfolding of 
the nature and life of it ; and would have been as able 
to raise mountains piled on mountains of seeming 
difficulty and impossibility against it. And therefore 
if he now thinks himself a believer, it would be a mercy 
to him to be undeceived, and convinced that he only be- 
lieves, because it is the fashion, and that he has taken 
his faith upon trust from others ! This may startle him ; 
For I doubt not he thinks verily, that he believes, 
because he has examined for himself, and is 
fully convinced ! But surely he has never made 
thoroughly the right examination, for if he had, he 
could never believe the common credenda of religion 
in our land. He may have gone as far as his natural 
powers can lead him, under all the clogs and pre- 
judices of education and popular opinion : but it is 
to be feared, the Father which is in heaven, has not 
revealed his son in him, has not translated him into 



52 

the kingdom of his dear son. He cannot then in this 
state, call Jesus, Lord, by the holy ghost; he may 
say, the Lord liveth, and Christ is the son of God, 
and nevertheless swear falsely ! 

The substance of what I have written, I have at 
least learned mostly of the Father. I learned the 
mystery of it, not of man, neither was I ever clearly 
and livingly taught it by man, as man ; but by the 
revelation of Jesus Christ. 

If, courteous reader, thy mind is now, or at any 
time hereafter shall be, so opened and prepared, as 
to receive and assent to these declarations, and would 
wish them to be of real benefit to thy soul, I have 
this further to say to thee : have a care ; catch not 
at it in the prying wisdom of man ; seek not to have 
the vulture's eye to behold it ; it will do thee no good, 
in the letter, out of the life of it. Wait on the Lord 
in stillness, in singleness, and holy abstraction of 
soul, before him. Be content with a little, make not 
haste. And as thine eye is single to the divine light 
in thee, thy whole body will become full of light ; 
thou wilt not lack any good thing, any necessary in- 
formation ; but God will reveal all things to thee, as 
far and as fast as thou canst safely and usefully bear 
them. If thou advancest in this school rightly, it 
can never be further or faster than thou advancest in 
purification ; and that must be through burning and 



53 

fuel of fire. If thou canst not dwell with devouring 
fire, and with spiritual burnings, thou wilt never 
make a proficient in the science of salvation, nor 
stand faithful in the Lamb's warfare. But if thy 
heart is won to Jesus in good earnest, and thou art 
engaged to follow him, wherever he leads thee ; 
through fire and water, through persecution, temp- 
tation, ridicule, and contempt ; if thou art bent to 
bear him company before the high priests, lawyers, 
and Pilate ; and to stand by him through all his 
perils, in his fast, agony, and death on the cross, — 
hold on thy way, he'll be with thee, and will not 
forsake thee. Remember for thy encouragement 
what he said to his disciples, " Ye have continued 
with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you 
a kingdom." This will hold good to all his upright 
followers for ever. 

I heartily wish thee a good journey in thy race to 
the heavenly Canaan, the communication and comfort 
of the holy spirit, and a blissful abode in the mansions 
of eternity. 

I dedicate, in much real good will, the foregoing to 
thy use and service, and bid thee farewell ; until we 
meet next in the realms of Emmanuel, to unite with 
saints, angels, and seraphs, in the songs of salvation, 
round the throne of Jehovah for ever. 



54 



SOME OPENINGS OF TRUTH 

IN REGARD TO THE 

<§attxxm8 d % jjmptarts : 

MOSTLY 

SUCH AS GOD HAS GIVEN ME BY HIS OWN HOLY SPIRIT, 
WHICH "SEARCHETH ALL THINGS, YEA, THE DEEP 
THINGS OF GOD." 



Matt. i. 1 : " The book of the generation of Jesus 
Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." 

Christ is not only the son of David, and David the 
son of Abraham; but Christ himself is the son, 
(strictly so in spirit,) both of Abraham and of David; 
yea, of all the holy fathers. 

Many good Christians may not have duly considered 
this, and so many be ready to doubt the truth of it. 
But many things are true which seem strange, and 
almost impossible, to those who have never been let 
into them. There are many deep mysteries, not only 
in spiritual things, but also in natural things, which 
thousands disbelieve, only because they have not been 



55 

opened to their understandings ; and yet those to 
whom they have been opened, are sure of the truth of 
them. It is, therefore, of excellent use in preparing us 
to understand and receive the truth, to stand open 
in our minds, with a full conviction that many things 
may be true, which we have never yet seen to be so. 
If this be the disposition of our minds, and we look 
to God, and humbly desire his divine assistance, he 
may graciously open things to us, one after another, 
which, of ourselves, we never could pry into, or 
beheld. He may give us to see clearly, that Christ 
is not only the son of God, and of Abraham, and of 
David, but of every true born son of God in every 
age of the world. 

It may be thought by many, that Christ is not the 
son of any but God, and the Virgin Mary ; but 
Christ himself positively declares, he that doeth the 
will of his Father, "the same is his mother, and 
sister, and brother." Shall we suppose he only 
meant that they were dearly beloved by him, and 
owned as if they were his nearest relations ? By 
such glosses and interpretations, is the true meaning 
of many of his deep, and deeply instructive sayings 
qualified away. But, verily, he meant as he said ; 
and had he not carefully confined his words to a strict 
meaning, he might have called such his father too. 
But in the spiritual sense in which he was speaking, 



56 

no man can possibly be his father, but God. It is 
true that we read of his father David. In regard 
to his outward genealogy and descent, David was his 
forefather ; but in regard to his birth in man, none 
can be Christ's father but God only. And in order 
to hold this forth to mankind, even his body that was 
born of the virgin, was conceived by the overshadow- 
ing efficacy of the holy ghost, without the agency of 
any other immediate father but God. Thus the out- 
ward holds a lively analogy with the inward. But 
though, speaking of the inward, no man can beSiis 
father, yet man can and must be, his " mother/' 
as well as "sister and brother," if ever he comes to 
be truly regenerated and born of the "incorruptible 
seed and word of God." This new birth is ever pro- 
duced by the overshadowing of the holy ghost upon 
the souls of men: and if this gracious overshadowing 
produce not the holy birth in some men, it is through 
their default, or the want of their co-operation with 
it. In such as these, it is like the seed sown in bad 
ground, and fails of heavenly increase ; for "the man 
is not without the woman, nor the woman without the 
man in the Lord." There must be an assent of the 
mind, a uniting with, and cleaving to the holy over- 
shadowing or regenerating influence of the holy ghost 
in every soul where the new birth is effected. And even 
in the case of our Lord's conception in the virgin, it 



57 

was not without the hearty assent of her mind ; for 
at the time from which this conception is reckoned, 
the language of her assenting soul was, " Behold the 
handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy 
word." And herein the generation of Jesus Christ 
appears in beautiful and instructive analogy. The 
conception even of the body not being without the 
cordial submission, faith, and acquiescence of the 
virgin ; which is a lively display of that state which 
invariably takes place in every soul that becomes the 
mother of Christ, which every one doth that is 
born again, or is born of God. For this new birth, 
or birth in man, " of the incorruptible seed of God," 
is as real a birth as is our first birth, or birth into 
this world. 

Some may think it a mere metaphorical expression, 
but it is as perfect a reality as any in nature; and 
that babe of life, that true child of God, that cries 
"Abba, Father," is never brought forth, but through 
a union of the two seeds, the human and divine. And 
as both seeds are spiritual, hence, " he that is joined 
to the Lord is one spirit," as the apostle truly asserts. 
This is the true union with God; and those thus be- 
gotten of him are all, strictly speaking, " the offspring 
of God," and children of the Most High. 

Stumble not at it, reader; it is the very truth of 
God; the only sure way of salvation by Christ. And 



58 

had salvation ever been without a real birth of God 
in the soul, a substantial union of the very life of God 
and of man, brought forth, and growing up into one 
new man, which in all ages and nations, is the true 
Immanuel state, God with man, in a real living 
union and oneness, Christ's birth of the virgin would 
have had no relation to the salvation of souls. But 
now, blessed forever be the God and Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, this outward coming of the son of 
his love, or this his appearance, work, and service in 
that prepared body, is a most lively and instructive 
exhibition and display of the alone true way and work 
of salvation. It shows us that no names, notions, 
creeds, forms, or performances, are of any avail in 
that great work, that are not in, and receive not all 
their life and virtue from and in the real life and vir- 
tue of the Immanuel state, — the union of God and 
man. This it concerns each individual to experience 
in his own heart. For nothing done for us, without 
us, is of any further actual and final advantage to us, 
than as it promotes the life and growth of this divine 
union. 

There is a great deal said of faith, regeneration, 
and imputation ; and the adversary cares not how busy 
men are in talking, imagining, and building creeds 
and systems, and professionally and notionally relying 
on the merits of Christ, if he can thereby keep them 



59 

from that loss of their own life, that death of the first 
active sinful nature in themselves, through which alone 
the life of Christ, the new man, is promoted ! Had 
there been any possible way of salvation but through 
the real death of all that is sinful in man, Christ need 
not have died; death is the alone way, and, " with- 
out blood there is no remission." The offerings un- 
der the law bore ample testimony to this truth, and 
pointed out the necessity of death unto sin. But men 
are too prone to rest in the figure, and to content 
themselves with outward performances. Instead of 
looking through and beyond the type to the substance, 
and pressing forward into a death unto sin, and a new life 
unto holiness, the Jews thought there was something 
substantially available in the punctual performance 
of the signs; and so gave occasion for the apostle's 
severe reprimand: " Behold, thou art called a Jew, 
and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, 
and hast a form of kuowledge, and of the truth in the 
law." 

Well, Christ has carried the thing much further 
than it ever was or could be carried, by the typical 
death of bulls and goats. He has shown us plainly 
that nothing will do, short of real death in us. That 
the death must be in man; that we must die to all 
creaturely corruption, as he died to the creaturely life. 
"In that he died, he died unto sin once," says the 



60 

apostle, " and in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." 
Though he was sinless, yet he died unto sin; he died 
to the very first risings and motions of evil; for " he 
was in all things tempted as we are." In yielding to 
these temptations, lust would have been so conceived 
as to have brought forth sin; but in dying, instantly, 
the death of the holy cross, to «very motion whose 
tendency was unto sin, he is properly said to have died 
unto sin. And herein, as well as in his death on the 
cross outwardly to the life of the creature, he has 
powerfully taught us the necessity of dying with him 
unto all sin. He that will lose his life for his sake, 
shall save a divine and eternal life with, and in him. 
But he that will save his life, will not die with him 
unto sin, must and shall lose it. He that will reign 
with him, must suffer with him ; and he that will rise 
with him in the newness of the divine life, must first 
be buried with him in that baptism which is into real 
death unto all sin, even that baptism by which the floor 
of the heart is thoroughly cleansed. This is the alone 
way through which he ever becomes our life. Paul 
boldly calls him " Christ our life," and he surely is the 
divine life, yea, and all the divine life, of every redeemed 
soul. God revealed him in Paul ; not merely to him, 
but in him. And no man ever had the true revelation 
of the son of God, but in himself: " Hive," says the 
apostle, " yet not I, it is Christ that liveth in me." 



61 

Come, christian professors, let us examine and 
prove our ownselves. " Know you not your ownselves, 
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be repro- 
bates ?" " He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you," 
says Christ. And again: " Because I live ye shall 
live also : at that day ye shall know that I am in my 
Father, and you in me, and I in you." As really as 
he is in the Father, his brethren are in him ; and as 
really as the Father is in him, and is his life, so 
really is he in them, and is their life. As really as 
God and man are united in one, in him, so really 
are they so in all his. Hence, " he is not ashamed 
to call them brethren ;" for they are true brethren, 
all born of the same holy and " incorruptible seed and 
word of God." It is this, and only this, that makes 
them not only " heirs of God," but "joint-heirs with 
Christ." All children of one Father ; all begotten by 
the overshadowing power of the holy ghost ; all bear- 
ing the image of the heavenly; wherein, " he that 
sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one." 
Nor let any man suppose that any thing can ever in- 
herit the kingdom of God, that has not a birth of the 
very life of God in it. What can possibly bring 
" every thought in us, into captivity to the obedience 
of Christ," as the apostle expresses it, but the life of 
Christ ruling in us ? Hence it is that in the kingdom 
of God, both when, and wherever it cometh in earth, 



62 

where the divine will is done, as it is in heaven, and 
also hereafter in the abodes of bliss, " all things are 
new, and all things of God;" for in this state and 
kingdom " God is all in all." Here it is that God 
is truly and entirely their God, and they his " sons 
and daughters." Indeed, the alone way of becoming 
his sons and daughters, the alone way of his becoming 
all in all in us, and bearing unopposed rule in our 
hearts, to the obedient subjection of every thought, 
is by our being born of him; bom of the very seed 
of God ; and as really so, as Isaac was born or be- 
gotten of Abraham. 

Hence every man in whom this birth is brought 
forth, is truly the mother of Christ. God alone is 
the Father of every such joint-heir with the blessed 
Jesus ; the person in whom he is thus begotten, is 
his mother; the begotten in every such soul, is his 
brother and sister; and this is that which sinneth 
not. In this holy birth, and babe of life, " the seed 
of God," of which it is begotten, remaineth; and so 
it " cannot sin, because it is born of God." If any 
man, in whom this birth has some real existence, finds 
himself still in degree under the power of sin, he may 
be assured, that so far as he is so, he is not born of 
God ; for that which is born of God sinneth not : or, 
in the words of the beloved disciple, "whatsoever is 
born of God, overcometh the world." 1 John v. 4. 



63 

That which sinneth in any man, is not born of God ; 
is not the new man, but the old man, which is cor- 
rupt, and in which sin yet dwelleth. In this state 
many good men are groaning to God, for complete 
deliverance from the remaining bondage of corruption. 
11 Even we ourselves," says the apostle, " groan within 
in ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption 
of our body." It is sometimes long before the entire 
adoption, before the sonship is so thoroughly com- 
pleted, as to allow the soul to speak boldly of the full 
redemption of the body; redemption of all that 
belongs to the man, every propensity, and every 
thought and motion. But there is no safe stopping 
by the way, or sitting down at ease ; for as certainly 
as we become wholly joined to the Lord in the one 
spirit, we know Christ to reign in us, till he puts 
down all rale and authority ; until all his and our 
enemies are put under his feet in us; until death 
is completely swallowed up in victory, and God becomes 
all in all. Here it is that the son renders up the king- 
dom to the Father ; and God, over all, sways the 
unresisted sceptre of his kingdom. 

This doctrine admits of great illustration from the 
scriptures ; indeed it is, as it were, the central point, 
the focus ; that, towards which much of the drift of 
scripture tends, as well as that which gives weight, 
beauty, and instruction to a great part of the sacred 



64 

records. And yet, such is the wisdom of God, in 
hiding these things from the wise and prudent, that 
nothing is less. seen by thousands, who think they 
understand the scriptures. They are a sealed book 
to this world's wisdom, and God determines their 
being so. The mysteries they contain, are only 
" spiritually discerned ;" for the " natural man can- 
not know them." There is none in heaven, nor in 
all the earth, but " the Lion of the tribe of Judah," 
that can open the seals, or give the mind of man 
rightly to look into, behold, and understand these 
divine mysteries. 

In confirmation of the Immanuel state, read 
Matthew's first chapter ; " She was found with child 
of the holy ghost ;" " That which is conceived in her is 
of the holy ghost !" This was ever the case with all, 
who come rightly to know " Christ in them the hope 
of glory ;" and there never was, nor ever will be, any 
othertrue and substantial "hope of glory" but Christ 
in man, his life, his strength, his guide, and 
sure defence. Man no otherwise comes to the living 
and complete experience of this, than through the 
overshadowing of the holy ghost, begetting in him a 
birth of the seed of God; which gradually increases, and 
grows in stature, and in favour with God, (as did our 
blessed Lord in that prepared body,) until Christ be- 
comes completely formed in him. This was what 



65 

the primitive believers pressed forward to the attain- 
ment of, as a mark for the prize of the high calling of 
God, which was " in Christ Jesus;" and for this, 
Paul " travailed in birth" with the little children, 
spiritually, of his day, that Christ might be formed 
in them. This he well knew could be effected by 
nothing short of the power of the holy ghost. Hence, 
in turning people "from darkness to light, and from 
the power of satan unto God," the gospel was preached 
with the holy ghost sent down from heaven; and 
from that day to this, the gospel of life and salva- 
tion has never been, nor ever, can be, any otherwise 
preached. 

" The gospel is the power of God ;" and no other 
power, no preaching but what is in that power, can 
turn souls from darkness to light : nothing out of that 
power can beget souls to God, or effect the conception, 
formation, and birth of Christ in man : this being the 
alone power exerted through all periods of time, in 
order to produce that union of God and man, wherein 
this new birth consists. We find this also the only 
power exerted upon the blessed virgin, the mother of 
our Lord. 

Oh ! the beautiful analogy, the deep wisdom and 
divine instruction herein exhibited to the enlightened 
mind ! As I view these things, my soul adores, and 
in prostration and reverence bows before the throne 



66 

of God ; and all that is alive in me, ascribes great- 
ness, and wisdom, might, majesty, and dominion, to 
the Holy One of Israel ! Well might Paul speak of 
Christ in man the hope of glory, as the mystery hid 
from ages and generations of those who were under 
the veil ; and consider it as the very riches and glory 
of God's "inheritance in the saints." Great riches 
and glory indeed ! Magnified for ever be the name of 
the Lord, that he has come so near us, and has so 
clearly taught us the nature and way of salvation, in 
the coming of our blessed Lord in that prepared body. 
Even the body was prepared by the power of God, 
and that too, as we have seen, in a very teaching and 
instructive manner ; hence, says our dear Redeemer, 
speaking to the Father, " a body hast thou prepared 
me." Here we see the body was not the saviour, 
(otherwise than as in union with, and through the 
power of, the divine life, it bore a part in the great 
work,) but was prepared for him who was the Saviour, 
to do the Father's will in. " Lo ! I come ; a body hast 
thou prepared me." The I who came, the me for 
whom the body was prepared, was, strictly speaking, 
the Saviour, and had been so in the salvation of all 
that had ever known salvation. For, says the MOST 
HIGH, "I am God, and beside me there is no 
saviour." And yet he never saved any, but through 
the "child born, and son given." There never 



67 

was any other way, but the way of the new birth, 
the begotten of God brought forth in the soul. This 
is the " seed of the woman," that ever " bruiseth the 
serpent's head" in man: wherever this is brought 
forth, satan's head is bruised; and wherever 
Satan's head is bruised in man, this is brought forth. 
This seed is not the seed of the woman, merely as 
born of Mary ; but also as born in every redeemed 
soul, either man or woman ; for in this sense, they 
are all one in Christ. Wherever Christ is brought 
forth, he is both the son of God and the son of 
man : but of man, only, and always, as his mother. 
A son ever implies both a father and mother: 
and hence Christ was the son of God, and son of 
man too, long before the days of the Virgin Mary. 
And yet he never could have been the son of God, 
till he was begotten of him, and he could not 
have been begotten without a mothef as well as a 
father. So that his eternal co-existence with the 
Father, previous to a mother's existence, was not in 
the state of sonship, but absolutely as GOD. 

Hence the evangelist John, speaking of his eternity 
and divinity, does not say " In the beginning was the 
son, and the son was with God, and the son was 
God ;" but he says, " In the beginning was the 
WORD." The word was strictly GOD, and in no- 
wise distinct from him, as a second person in the 



68 

trinity; but was truly the " everlasting Father." 
This everlasting Father, arising in his might, spake 
the word, " and it was so !" Worlds and intelligences 
were spoken into being by the word of his eternal 
power ! Hence, as in putting forth his voice he is 
called the word, so of his uttering his voice in the 
hearts of his prophets, it is said, " the word of the 
Lord came unto them;" and of his clothing himself 
with flesh, and speaking into birth that holy thing 
which was born of the virgin Mary by the word of 
his power, it is said, " the word was made flesh ;" 
that is "took flesh/' for the flesh" he took on him :" 
though "he took not on him the nature of angels," 
but the nature of man, and thus was found " in fashion 
as a man." This holy word that thus took on him 
flesh, was none else but the EVERLASTING 
FATHER, exerting himself, by the word of his own 
power, in all productive energy ! 

It is as dark as Egyptian darkness, to talk of three 
eternal persons in the only one God. He is one 
forever. There is no twain in him. Even his 
wisdom and his power are not twain in him ; for 
he is wisdom, and wholly wisdom ; he is power, and 
wholly power ; and so of all his other attributes, as 
we call them. Indeed the very word attribute im- 
plies, that he has not these, as absolutely different 
things in him ; but that we only attribute them to 



69 

him, as if lie had, and that because he is all these, 
rather than has them. If he had them, in actual 
contradistinction one from another, we need not call 
them attributes; and in that case there would be 
at least a twain ; yea, a considerable variety and com- 
position in him, whereas he is one simple uncom- 
pounded act, or essence. 

But generating, (we may use the word generation, 
for Matthew calls his book, "the book of the gener- 
ation of Jesus Christ,") I say, generating with the 
life of man, the everlasting Father takes upon, and 
unites unto himself, our life and nature : and thus 
brings forth the Emmanuel state, God with man. 
Here the sonship commences ; and this commenced 
long before Mary. "To us a child is born, to us a 
son is given," is time in the present tense, and was 
true in every age of the world, without looking back- 
wards or forwards. " Thou art my beloved son, this 
day have I begotten thee," is also ever true in the 
present tense, whenever the new birth takes place in 
man. And because all the divine life and authority 
of this only begotten, (for he is one in all,) both in 
that prepared body and in all his joint-heirs and 
brethren, is the eternal life and power of the ct ever- 
lasting Father" that begetteth him; therefore the 
very text that calleth him a child born, and a son 
given, declares his name to be " the Mighty God, 



70 

the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." His 
name is his life and power; "the name of the 
Lord is a strong tower;" "thy name is as oint- 
ment poured forth," and many other passages of 
scripture show his name to be just what he is. 
And, therefore, as all the divine life, power, virtue, 
and authority of the son, is the divine life, power, 
virtue, and authority of the Father, conferred upon, 
active in, and actuating the begotten, he receives 
the name " everlasting Father." Thus he and the 
Father are one; and yet Christ truly says, "My 
Father is greater than I." This, as a son, he may 
say, wherever he is brought forth ; as a son, this 
must have been the case in that body ; as a son, he 
must be dependant upon the Father; hence he 
declares, "I can do nothing without my Father." 
"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." 

It is not possible for the Father to beget, or put 
forth a being that can work good independently of 
himself; for then there would be two good, or, which 
is the same thing, two Gods. Hence, when one 
called Christ, '^Good Master," he refused to accept 
the title, as applied to himself, independently of the 
one only real goodness, the goodness of God; and 
makes this return, "Why callest thou me good? 
There is none good but one, that is, God." This 
must hold good forever; for the moment any other 



71 

independent source of real goodness is admitted, 
another God is that moment admitted ; or good is 
admitted, which the one God is not the source 
and author of. Hence, as a son, Christ was and 
is as absolutely and entirely dependant upon the Fa- 
ther, as any of us. Indeed, were he not so, he could 
not be like us in all things, sin excepted. As we 
can do no good thing merely of ourselves, so he, if like 
us in all things but sin, can do no good thing of him- 
self, merely, and independently. Hence, he could 
not do many mighty works in some places, because 
of the people's unbelief; the Father, by his eternal 
power, not making way there for the visible display 
of the glory and power of the sonship. Nor was this 
total dependency confined wholly to power; it was as 
real in regard to wisdom and knowledge ; and so cer- 
tainly as we have no real wisdom and knowledge, 
but what we have received, so certainly was the case 
the same with the blessed Jesus. Hence, he himself 
speaks of a day or hour, which no man, nor angel, 
nay, nor even the son himself, but the Father only 
knoweth. Some may think this is very strange, but 
it must be so, if he is, except sin, like us in all 
things ; and if he were not in all things else like 
us, his triumph and victory over all the powers 
of death and darkness, could not assure us of 
the possibility and certainty, upon our standing 



72 

faithful, of our victoriously triumphing in like 
manner. 

Has he not fairly, in the open field of battle, bid 
defiance to, foiled, conquered, and overcome all the 
art, power, and policy of the grand adversary of souls ? 
Yea, verily he has. But in what capacity has he done 
this ? And can we do it too ? For if he has done it 
in some very different capacity from ours, either by 
having less temptation to encounter, or weapons of 
warfare to maintain the combat with, which we have 
not, what assurance can his conquest give us, that 
we may conquer too ? But verily he has made this 
conquest in our capacity ; in every respect in our 
capacity, except sin : and, therefore, as the arms in 
which he conquered are ours, and as we certainly 
may, if we will but avail ourselves of the force and 
omnipotency thereof, conquer all the arts and powers 
of hell, even though we have been in degree, weakened 
and disheartened by sin, what Christ said to his 
followers is strictly true : " The works that I do shall 
ye do also ; and greater works than these shall ye do.'' 
One greater thing, at least, we all may do, if we will ; 
we may all conquer satan, and know his head entirely 
bruised ; know him bound and east out, and all 
his goods destroyed, even after we have been enslaved 
by him ; and by means of which slavery, we may have 
the force and power of vicious habits in ourselves to 



73 

conquer. This is a victory indeed ; and such a one 
as the blessed Jesus never could experience, in his 
individual conquest, in that prepared and sinless 
body. For though I doubt not his rising superior, 
in that conquest, to all the powers of hell, evil 
habits, and all other evil ; yet, as he had no evil 
habits in himself to conquer, so he left the 
door open for his brethren, his joint-heirs and com- 
panions in the holy warfare, to do that greater work, 
and conquer all the additional force of sinful habits 
in themselves. He had all the varied and combined 
forces of temptation and assault to combat, that a 
sinless state could possibly be tried with ; and thus 
being tempted, he knows how to succour those that 
are tempted, and is forever a merciful and faithful 
high priest and intercessor. 

He trod into the sympathetic experience of every 
step of our tribulations and sufferings, and commis- 
erates us in our most tried states ; and having con- 
quered our grand adversary, in our nature, and while 
clothed with flesh, and found in fashion as a man, well 
may he bid us be of good cheer, and not fear the as- 
saults of satan : laying down as the ground-work and 
reason of our confidence and cheerfulness, " I have 
overcome the world !" 

But some are ready to conclude, his overcoming 
in that single combat is enough; that we are to 



74 

rejoice in that, and rest assured of its all-sufficiency 
for us, without entertaining the least thought of over- 
coming all the power of sin and satan in ourselves, 
which, say they, is impossible. Oh ! the grand 
delusions of the devil ! Had Christ been governed 
by satan's representations of the impossibility of a 
conquest, he had never overcome all his strong holds, 
of which this is one ; and a strong fortress indeed 
it is, against all those who would believe him, 
who is a liar from the beginning, in this his lying 
insinuation. 

But, dear reader, believe him not. Christ has 
not conquered to excuse us, but that we should 
follow his steps ; and has shown us, that as certainly 
as he has overcome, we shall overcome too, if we 
fight valiantly under him, the captain of our sal- 
vation. In order whereunto, we are called upon to 
avail ourselves of the " whole armour of God." The 
whole armour of God ! may the doubting and des- 
pairing mind say — wouldst thou have us to be so 
vain as to think we can be armed with the whole 
armour of God ? Have we all the power of God, 
all these weapons of war at our service in this 
great warfare against "the world, the flesh, and the 
devil ?" Was not Christ Jesus armed with far more 
potent weapons than we ought to pretend to ? 

In answer to this, I do assure the truly conflicting 



75 

reader, that we have, freely offered to us, if we will 
use them in God's way and time, all the weapons of 
warfare with which our saviour gave the grand foil to 
the utmost force of our grand adversary. We have 
the free offer and gift of the " whole armour of 
God," if we will receive it, and go forth to war in 
the invincible power thereof; an armour that is ab- 
solute proof against all opposition and assault; a 
shield that never failed ; a sword that never yet was 
foiled in battle ! It is only when " the shield of the 
MIGHTY is vilely cast away," that^satan can 
possibly prevail against us. Our . God is in no 
degree wanting, or sparing in his provision for our 
defence, preservation, and safety. "He will (he 
does) give grace and glory, and no good thing will he 
withhold from" them who rightly rely upon his holy aid. 
All such are armed with all the power of omnipo- 
tence, as often as they need it. If the power of 
temptation increaseth against them, let them only 
stand fast in the power of God upon them, in their 
own souls, and then satan can no more defeat them, 
than he can defeat Omnipotence. For let his power 
and his roaring increase to whatever possible degree, 
their strength and valour will be proportionably 
increased, in the name of the infinite Jehovah, and 
in the power of an endless life. 

Their supplies and resources will ever rise superior 



76 

to all the arts of hell, and the power of the prince of 
darkness ; nor can they ever be exhausted, unless it 
were possible for satan to baffle unlimited wisdom, 
and exhaust the supplies of unbounded Goodness and 
Power. 

I grant, in our own, unassisted attempts to 
maintain the field against the arch-champion of the 
regions of darkness, all our iron would be but as 
stubble, and our brass as rotten wood before him ; he 
would laugh us to scorn, and stamp ignominy upon 
our utmost prowess. But magnified over all, and 
praised forever, be the great name of the Lord ! he 
has not sent us into this world, no, not an individual 
of us, to sustain such unequal combat. It is true, 
he has placed us here upon probation ; exposed to 
the attacks, buffetings, allurements, and temptations 
of our common adversary ; and has rendered us un- 
able, without his assistance, to prevail at all against 
him ; and there is no reason to doubt but that this is 
all for the best, and the very dictate of infinite wis- 
dom and goodness. 

For my part, I do not, and dare not even wish I 
had no such adversary to wage war with ; nor yet 
that I was able in my own independent ability to 
resist, conquer, or confound him. I am willing to be 
tried, as gold is tried, " in the fire," and as are ac- 
ceptable men, "in the furnace of affliction." 



77 

I am willing also that God should have all the praise, 
and all the glory, in my preservation and victory. I 
know he " will not give his glory to another, nor his 
praise to graven images;" nor is there any thing in 
me that wishes to arrogate to the creature, the least 
claim or praise of independent achievement. I know 
in this warfare I can do nothing of myself, indepen- 
dently ; I know also, that no moment will ever arrive, 
wherein I shall not be armed, (unless it be through 
my own default,) with armour, and ability all- sufficient 
to defeat and foil the utmost exerted powers, and most 
cunning and artful devices of hell. The devil may 
tempt, but can force no man to yield to his tempta- 
tions. Thanksgiving, and glory, and honour, and 
power, be ascribed to Israel's holy and omnipotent 
Guide, Governor, and Preserver! " there is no en- 
chantment against Jacob , nor divination against Israel, ' ' 
so long as Israel's abiding is in the true tent and 
tower of safety, the name and strength of the Lord. 

Therefore, let the call, or alarm, be sounded 
throughout all the camps of Israel, " To thy tent, 
Israel ! To thy tent, Israel !" The Lord ! the Lord 
strong and mighty ; the name, the life, the power of 
the living God, the mighty God of Jacob, is thy alone 
tent and tower of safety. Israel, abide here, and 
thou art safe forever ! Thy place of defence then is 
in the "mnnition of rocks;" " bread shall be given 



78 

thee, thy waters shall be sure." For though thou art 
still but " worm Jacob," in thyself, and hast no inde- 
pendent might or ability, yet the strength of omnipo- 
tence is infallibly engaged on thy side : and so long 
as thou trustest in the Lord with all thy heart, not 
leaning to thy own understanding, but faithfully and 
valiantly maintaining the fight in the name of the Lord, 
he" will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Inthefire, 
and in the water, he will still be with thee ; that neither 
the floods nor the flames shall prevail against thee. 
He will hold thee, yea, hide thee too, in the hollow 
of his own holy hand ; and even as the very " apple 
of his eye" he will keep thee. This thou mayst with 
undoubting confidence rely upon ; for it never has, 
nor ever will fail to those who rightly trust in the 
living God, and depend on the all- sufficiency of that 
aid and armour wherewith he inwardly and powerfully 
equips, arms, and defends all his children. So that 
down to this day it remains a reviving and soul conso- 
lating truth, that "none ever trusted in the Lord and 
were confounded." 

But now to return to the subject of the absolute 
dependance of the son upon the Father. Some may 
think it very strange that I dare assert he is as depen- 
dant for wisdom, power, and refreshment of soul, as 
any of us ; for they have been taught that the son 
was the son from all eternity ; begotten, and yet, as 



79 

begotten, as old as the Father ; and that, as the son 
and begotten, he was very G-od ! A darker doctrine 
than which I do not remember to have met with in 
heathen mythology ! 

God was from eternity one, and no more twain 
than a unit, or than an indivisible particle ; and 
viewing him thus, without any regard to his works, he 
liveth and reigneth properly God. Exerting himself 
in creation, putting forth his power, or speaking the 
word, "Let there be light," &c, he receives properly 
the appellation of the word. And whether he 
had ever begotten any offspring or not, he was poten- 
tially the "everlasting Father," as having the power 
of begetting; and thus commencing actual Father 
whenever he pleased. But actual Father he never 
was nor could be, till he had begotten an offspring ; 
and whenever he had done this, both the actual state 
of Fatherhood and sonship commenced ; as when he 
actually created, he commenced actual creator, and 
when he actually redeemed any one from bondage, he 
commenced actual redeemer. 

Some may say, this represents him as beginning 
to be something, which he was not before. But it 
only represents him exerting his eternal powers and 
capacities when and just as he pleaseth. What right 
have we to conclude he must from all eternity have 
been actually begetting, creating, redeeming, &c. ? 



80 

Will it not suffice us, that he ever had the power 
and capacity to exert himself in any or all these 
ways, or in any other way, just when he pleased ? 
Do we impute change or variation to him, or argue 
that he is not just that in himself at one time as at 
another, unless we admit he is from all eternity 
exerting himself in the actual creation of this terra- 
queous globe on which we dwell ? or in the forma- 
tion of the first man, Adam ? — in directing Noah 
how to build the ark ? or in deluging the world with 
a general overflow of water ? 

Is he not the great " healer of breaches ?" Is he 
not the " father of the fatherless, and husband of the 
widow P But could he ever be the actual healer of 
breaches, before any breaches were made ? Could 
he be an actual father to the fatherless, or husband 
to the widow, before the fatherless or widow existed ? 
Is he not a " rich re warder of all who diligently seek 
him ? " But could he be their actual rewarder, be- 
fore ever they sought him or were in existence ? 
And could he any more be an actual father, creator, 
or redeemer, before ever he actually begat, created, 
or redeemed ? Or could a son be begotten, and 
have no mother ? The production of man on the 
earth was a work of creation ; and would it have 
been anything different from creation, had the Al- 
mighty produced the man Christ Jesus, without the 



81 

medium of a mother ? Or if Christ had existed as 
God and man, co- eternal with the Father, how could 
he have been begotten ? Or how can a son be be- 
gotten, if, as a son, he existed co- eternal with the 
Father ? And why did God choose to shew us the way 
and work of salvation, by bringing into union the hu- 
man and divine nature in one ? and why, in doing this, 
did he make use of a woman, a mother, but to teach 
us that salvation was, and is, through all ages, a real 
birth of God in man : a real uniting of the divine 
and human natures, in the Immanuel state of God 
with man; wherein " he that is joined to the Lord, 
is one spirit," as before mentioned ? And does not 
our Saviour's being "made of a woman," as the 
apostle expresses it, or being begotten by the power 
of God upon the holy virgin, loudly proclaim to us, 
that there never was a soul regenerated, or born 
again to God, but through a work wherein both a fa- 
ther and a mother are concerned ? A work wherein the 
two seeds or natures, the " incorruptible seed and 
word of God," and the proper nature, or life of 
man, are united. A work wherein " the man can 
no more be without the woman, nor the woman 
without the man in the Lord ;" that is, wherein 
God can no more be without the creature, the 
mother; nor the creature, the mother, without him, 
the Father, than the man or the woman can be 



82 

without each other in the procreation of their species. 

And do not the obedience, sufferings, and death of 
Christ, as plainly point out to us, the necessity of a 
life of obedience, self-denial, and death unto sin, as 
ever outward circumcision pointed out the circumcision 
of the heart ? And is it not on the very ground of 
this necessity of a real self-denial, and death to sin, 
that Christ insists upon it, that whoever will be his 
disciple, must first deny himself, take up his daily 
(mark daily) cross, and follow him? Follow him ! — 
what is that ? Why it is to take his holy spirit for 
our leader and guide into all truth ; to take him for 
our pattern and example ; and to follow him, where- 
soever he leadeth us, in the way of regeneration, self- 
denial, the loss of our own life, and death unto all sin ! 

These are the terms, and this is the alone way of 
salvation ; which makes it easier for a camel to go 
through a needle's eye, than for worldly minded men, 
while they remain such, to be saved ! 

And art thou, reader, ready to say, if these be the 
terms, who then can be saved ? I grant that with 
man, in his own strength and independent ability, 
salvation is, and ever will be, impossible; but with 
God it is very possible : he can make man a new crea- 
ture ; carry him through and over all opposition and 
difficulty ; make him more than conqueror; and save 
him with an everlasting salvation. 



83 



Wfrafiorn bg fms Christ, 



THE 



MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL SUBJECTS, 

FURTHER CONSIDERED. 



I am as well assured that there is no other name 
under heaven, given among men, whereby we can be 
saved, but by the name of Jesus Christ, as I am of 
any doctrine whatever. And yet the true ground and 
nature of this salvation appears to me to be generally 
mistaken by the professors of the christian religion in 
our day. 

The christian religion, did not then first commence 
when Christ appeared in that prepared body that was 
born of the virgin Mary ; but was and is the true re- 
ligion of all ages and nations ; and Christ was and is 
the life of all the dispensations of God to mankind. 
The union of God and man in the one spirit, has 
ever been, and ever will be, the alone full rest and 
complete satisfaction and enjoyment of souls. Men 
may pursue pleasure, honour, wealth, and all that earth 



84 

affords, in order to find satisfaction; but at the height 
of the enjoyment of all these, they will be poor, dis- 
satisfied, and unhappy. Weary of these pursuits, a 
man may try devotion, prayers, sermons, psalms, 
ceremonies, forms, and performances of religion, (so 
esteemed.) He may hear and tell a great deal of 
Christ, of faith, of imputation, and of being complete 
in Jesus ; but all this will never anchor his soul upon 
that which is sure and steadfast, will never give him 
the true rest and enjoyment of souls, nor centre 
him in God ; unless he truly knows the son of God 
begotten, formed, and brought forth in himself, 
wherein alone the union with God, or the Immanuel 
state consisteth. 

This ought to bring us to the consideration and 
enquiry, whether we are children of God, spiritually, 
as really as a son is the child of his father naturally ? 

I am assured there is no permanent and complete 
satisfaction and bliss, to be enjoyed by the soul of 
man, but in the state of true and real sonship. We 
must be born of God as really as ever we were born 
of our parents outwardly, and thus become true 
"heirs of God," and even "joint-heirs with Christ, " 
if ever we enter the kingdom of heaven. Heirs are, 
in the first and nearest degree, one's own children; 
joint-heirs are brethren. And if ever we enter 
into a state of joint-heir ship with the blessed 



85 

Jesus, we must be as truly the sons of God, as he is 
his son. 

If it be objected that Christ is his only son, his 
only-begotten, and that therefore none else can 
be his son in the same sense, I answer, 

1st. It is not pretended that any other visible 
person, or human being, was ever produced in the 
same manner as was Jesus the son of Mary : so, in 
that respect, that was a singular and only instance 
of sonship. 

2nd. But a second part of the answer to this objection 
is, that though the sonship, as brought forth in a 
plurality of persons, is expressed in the plural num- 
ber in relation to them, and so is called sons, chil- 
dren, and heirs, — yet in relation to God, with whom 
the union is immediately formed in all those persons 
wherein the sonship takes place, the whole is but 
one sonship. The seed of which they are begotten 
is one in all : that is, "the incorruptible seed, and 
word of God," of which all that are or ever were 
" born again of God," are and have been begotten. 

The doctrine of the new birth is not a new- 
fangled notion, as deists may conceive, but is 
essentially the one only possible medium or way of 
complete peace to the human soul. We are all so 
constituted and made, that nothing in heaven or earth 
can ever fully satisfy the desires and longing of our 



86 

souls, but a real union with the Fountain and Source 
of all good. This union we are capable of, and 
designed for, and therefore can never be completely 
happy without it. 

This is the grand reason why mankind are, even 
at the height of their earthly enjoyments, uneasy, 
unhappy, and not fully satisfied. They crave and 
covet this and that, and vainly think, if the things 
they wished for were granted them, they should be 
happy ; but when they obtain what they had thus 
desired, it ends more or less in disappointment. Their 
souls are not satisfied; they sigh for something more. 
Thus, the poor man thinks riches would make him 
happy ; but when he attains wealth, he is no happier 
than before, and often not so much so. Still he 
wishes, still he craves, and fancies happiness consists 
in something which earth affords. Hence, mirth, 
festivity, and amusements are pursued; but these 
serve rather as an expedient to drown trouble, than 
any thing that has even the appearance of affording 
solid joy. These, therefore, soon cloy, and even 
disgust ; and the mind is left lean, empty, and still 
longing for something, but knows not what. 

Thus when all the rounds of earth's promised bliss 
are run, and all have failed, the poor, craving, disap- 
pointed soul, perhaps flees to some form of religious 
worship and devotion, in hope that now, at last, sub- 



87 

stantial happiness will be insured, and disappointment 
end. But, alas ! too often this brings little more 
solid satisfaction than the rest. Now the poor crea- 
ture begins to think happiness an unsubstantial name, 
a mere dream or illusion ; what thousands fondly 
seek, but no man ever found. If it fails, thinks he, 
in religion, to which God has promised it in the most 
solemn manner, it must fail utterly, and for ever dis- 
appoint the hopes of man ! But God never promised it 
to any forms or creaturely performances. The 
promise is only to the new creature, that which 
is born of God. And the reason why God never 
promised fulness of joy and complete satisfaction to 
anything else, is, because nothing else in man is 
capable of it, or can possibly receive it. The reason 
so many of the human race are more' or less unhappy, 
is, that they seek to satisfy the desires of an immortal 
soul with that which never was designed for its true 
source of enjoyment. The soul may flutter on from 
one earthly object to another, and even affect a kind 
of gaiety and seeming satisfaction in these things, but 
it cannot find a solid resting place, — a source of per- 
manent enjoyment, in any or all of them. 

God made man in his own image. " In the image 
of God created he him. ' ' There is therefore something 
in man, that must eternally pant for enjoyment, unless 
united to God the source of all real good. 



88 

The best and highest enjoyment short of this, is 
still a state of banishment ; and even the misery of 
the condemned, is properly called a punishment 
" with everlasting destruction from the presence 
of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." It 
is alienation, banishment, separation ! and so long as 
a soul is not united to God, it is and must be in 
pain and anxiety ; wishing, craving, longing for solid 
enjoyment, but never finding it. It never can be 
found but in the new birth; because we can never 
be united to God till we are so overshadowed by the 
holy ghost, and so yield to its influence, as to be 
thereby regenerated and bom again of God ; truly and 
livingly born again of the " incorruptible seed and 
word of God." This is that new birth, without which, 
Christ assures us, we u cannot enter into the kingdom 
of God." And it will ever hold good that we cannot ; 
and the reason why we cannot, will also hold good 
for ever, — that is, the enjoyment of that kingdom is 
the true enjoyment of God, where all is in subjection 
to him, and the soul in vital union with him ; and 
this cannot be where the life that lives in us, is not 
a real birth of God. Hence, Paul says, " I live, yet 
not I, but Christ liveth in me." Yea, further, he 
says, " Christ who is our life." Many may think this 
only means, that as Christ has purchased life and 
salvation for us, without us, he is called our life : 



89 

but the truth is, that Christ is substantially the very 
life of all that are born of God; and on this ground 
it is, that Christ declares himself to be the " resur- 
rection and the life." He knew the divine life of 
every Christian is the same as his own, it is all 
one divine life. He knew also that in the new 
birth only, in that which is truly born of God, the 
"resurrection and the life" are enjoyed. Hence, 
" blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first 
resurrection, on such the second death has no power.'' 
The " first resurrection" is Christ; and therefore, 
every soul in whom the new birth, the begotten of 
God, the life of Christ, is brought forth, has "part 
in the first resurrection." This is out of the power 
of death, and in the spring of life forever : for 
Christ, the begotten, triumphs over death, as well 
in all the seed, in all his joint -heirs and brethren, 
as in that one prepared body. 

But as the true doctrine of Christ is, perhaps, the 
deepest subject ever clearly opened to the mind of 
man, so man had, and still has, and as mere man 
ever will have, his "strong reasons," (as he thinks 
them,) against it. Perhaps nothing was more directly 
repugnant to the wisdom and learning of the Greeks 
and the Jews, than that Jesus Christ should be the 
son of God. The veil was over their minds, so 
that they could not understand the mystery ; and 



90 

therefore, many things about it were, to their sense, 
impossible. He testified, that " Abraham saw his 
day," which they disbelieving, and thinking that he 
had involved himself in an inextricable dilemma, 
replied, " Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast 
thou seen Abraham?" And many professed Chris- 
tians think to this day, that Abraham only saw his 
day afar off, and then, a great while after, to 
commence. But that was not our blessed Lord's 
meaning ; his answer to their cavil, points directly 
at another thing: " Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
before Abraham was, I am." He does not say, 
I was before Abraham, but "I am." For he is 
the life of God's people, through all time ; and as 
such, Abraham truly saw his day, and rejoiced in it. 
It was his life. He was born of God, Christ lived 
in him, and was his " hope of glory." If it had not 
been so, he had been a reprobate ; for it holds good 
in every age, as Paul said to those of his day, 
"Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates." 
For as Christ the begotten of God, is certainly the 
life of all that are born of God, and as that vital 
union with God, which is the only true solace and 
full satisfaction of every soul, is only known in 
this living birth of God, therefore it follows, that 
those who know not this union, this birth, this 
only solid enjoyment, are reprobates, strangers, 



91 

outcasts (in that state) from true bliss and enjoyment. 
Jut as in that day, so in this, the veil is over 
people's minds, and ever will be over them, till 
Christ is revealed in them. It was in Paul that 
"God revealed his son." He did not reveal him to 
him as something wholly without him ; but he 
revealed him in him. Well then might Paul call 
Christ "our life," and testify that " Christ lived in 
him." And until he is so revealed, in professing 
Christians, the veil will remain over their minds; 
for it is only removed, or " done away in Christ :" 
not in a mere profession of him, but in himself, 
the life. And so far as this is not experienced by 
christian professors, they stand much on a level with 
the Jews, in point of clearness and understanding in 
the doctrines of Christ. For the name makes little 
or no difference. And until Christ comes to be the 
real inward life of those who bear his name, their 
profession of him is but nominal ; and they will be 
as subject to doubts, reasonings, and objections 
against the true doctrine of the gospel, as the Jews 
were. Hence they will be ready to say, Surely God 
does not beget Christ in every true christian ; this 
would be making every such equal with the man 
Christ Jesus. In answer to this, let us call to mind 
what great offence the notion of equality gave the 
Jews. They thought it blasphemy in Christ to 



92 

pretend oneness with God. " Whom makest thou 
thyself ? " said they. But though all the divine life 
in Christ, was the very life of God in him, anl 
in that sense he and his Father were one : yet as it 
him something was taken into union with God, 
which was human, therefore Christ testified, "My 
Father is greater than I." This will eternally be tie 
case ; God is and ever will be greater than any thing 
else; and though humanity is united with divinity 
in every new born babe in Christ, yet none can ever 
aspire to equality with God. Nor will a humble 
Christian presume upon equality with Christ. For 
though every babe that is begotten and born of God, 
is as truly the offspring of God, as truly born of the 
same holy seed, and so " Christ is not ashamed to 
call them brethren ;" yet as the birth of the divine 
life, in the union with the human, was most eminent 
in that prepared body ; as the body itself was con- 
ceived through the overshadowing power of the holy 
ghost, and was uniformly in subjection to the divine 
life ; as he was thus brought forth for a most 
excellent work and service, and as a glorious display 
of the way and work of salvation, so all the brethren 
and fellow-heirs with him, will readily allow him the 
pre-eminence. Yet this hinders not their being truly 
born of the same holy seed as he was, and as to the 
divine life in them, it is one and the same, 



93 

wherever it becomes the life of the soul : it cannot 
be divided : there is no twain in it. 

Moses told Israel of old to " cleave unto the Lord," 
for says he, "He is thy life, and the length of thy 
days." The life of God itself has ever been the divine 
and spiritual life of his people. This is a great 
mystery ! God with man, in living union, is too deep 
a subject for the natural understanding of man, 
unassisted, to investigate. " The natural man 
receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, they are 
foolishness unto him, neither can he know them." But 
it may be depended upon, that it is the alone true rest, 
solace, and satiating enjoyment of the soul ; and that 
the one reason why there are so few truly happy per- 
sons in the world is this : full union with God can 
never take place, till death takes place in man upon all 
that is or acts in opposition to him. Hence, "straight 
is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to 
life, and few there be that find it." Few are willing 
to lose the life of their own wills, that is contrary to 
God, and thus to die into union with the Source of 
all Good, and save that eternal life which cannot be 
enjoyed but where God is all in all, and every 
thought and motion of the mind is in subjection to 
him ! The separate, selfish, and creaturely will of 
man seeks satisfaction out of subjection to the divine 
will, and mistakenly thinks the death of self, and a 



94 

full subjection to the will of God, would be death to 
almost every enjoyment in the world : but the truth 
is, it is the only possible way for the soul to attain 
to complete enjoyment. But the carnal mind is at 
enmity with God. "It is not subject to the law of 
God, neither indeed can be." Therefore, in the 
work of salvation there is no alternative : death must 
pass upon the carnal mind, or the soul remains in the 
state of enmity to God, and opposition to him ! God 
has so created even wheat, that unless it die, it 
abideth alone, and bringeth not forth ; and unless we 
die to the first state, will, inclination, and selfish 
life of the creature, we too abide alone, wrapped 
up in ourselves, in a life of separation from the life 
of God. This is abiding alone; if ever we are 
united to God, all that is in us, that is opposed to 
his pure reign in the soul, must die. And in order 
to effect this, he is wooing, overshadowing, and 
operating upon us, to bring, forth in us that immortal 
birth, that babe of divine life, which, when brought 
forth, and increased in stature, would bind the strong 
man and cast him out, spoiling all his goods, and 
slaying utterly the carnal mind, the enmity ; thus 
reconciling the soul to God. 

This doctrine of the new birth, and this absolute 
oneness of the life of the begotten, both in the 
man Christ Jesus and in all his joint-heirs and 



95 

brethren, is not only according to the scriptures, 
but founded in the nature of things. It is by the 
overshadowing influence and power of the holy ghost, 
that " Christ in us, the hope of glory," is conceived 
and brought forth, or formed in us. Paul travailed 
in birth that Christ might be formed in the little 
children spiritually of his day. We find also the 
same agency in the conception of Jesus Christ : for 
as none but God ever could or can be the Father of 
Christ, spiritually, so the analogy holds good in the 
case of his prepared body ; as it is said, Heb. x. 5. 
" A body hast thou prepared me." Here we may see 
the body was not the saviour, but was prepared for 
him to do the Father's will in, and prepared by the 
power of God, through the influence of the holy ghost. 
" She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call 
his name Jesus, (a saviour,) for he shall save his 
people from their sins." He could not possibly 
save them in their sins. Salvation is the removal 
of sin actually, not imputatively. Sin forever separ- 
ates the soul, that is in it, from reconciliation and 
union with God. Complete salvation is complete 
reconciliation to, and union with God. " He that is 
joined to the Lord is one spirit." " God was in 
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself;" "of 
twain, making one new man, and so making 
peace." Peace can never be fully known whilst 



96 

the twain remains. All that is in man, even 
" every thought ;" must be " brought into captivity," 
or subjection, "to the obedience of Christ." Here 
the will is one ; here of the twain one new man is 
made, and so true peace is witnessed. 

This is being saved from sin. And as a real and 
complete change must always take place in one of the 
twain, where two that were aliens, or unreconciled, 
become reconciled and made one, it is evident that 
the change which Christ effects and brings about in 
reconciling souls unto God, is and must be in them ; 
for God remains the same, unaltered and unchanged 
for ever. Hence the souls of believers are said to be 
reconciled unto God ; not he to be reconciled unto 
them ; though that also is truly the case, for he is 
reconciled unto them, in a true and substantial sense ; 
but as all the change is in them, they are, in the 
most natural and proper sense, said to be reconciled 
unto him. And no soul can ever know the complete 
salvation of Christ by mere imputation; for that 
removes not the sin, the cause of separation and 
opposition. 

God will be forever disposed alike at all times to a 
soul in the same state. If he rejects at one time for 
actual sin or sinfulness, he will always reject for the 
same. It is perfectly idle to talk of being completely 
reconciled to God by the righteousness of Christ, 



97 

whilst remaining actually sinners in ourselves ; or 
that we are holy in him, and unholy in ourselves. 
God always regards us just as we are in ourselves, 
and is to us accordingly, because he cannot change. 
And therefore to the froward he must and will shew 
himself froward ; because all that are froward are in 
direct opposition to him, who is always the same. 
Let that frowardness in us be removed, and a recon- 
ciliation must of course take place ; for he is in 
eternal good will to all good, and to all that are 
strictly under the influence of good. Here there can 
be twain no longer ; for all jarring, frowardness, and 
opposition being removed, the oneness is established, 
wherein the true peace consists for ever. This is the 
work of CHRIST in man, and of GOD in 
CHRIST. It is also the work of man by 
CHRIST, and of CHRIST by GOD the 
FATHER. 



98 

THE FOLLOWING EXTRACTS 

ARE SELECTED FROM THE 

(fcmpkte Jtoxtmal 0f fob Statt, 



WHICH ARE 



OMITTED IN THE OKDINARY EDITIONS. 



TO AVOID REPETITION, AND TO ECONOMIZE THE LIMITED 
SPACE, SOMETIMES, THOUGH WITH REGRET, A PORTION 
ONLY OF THE ARTICLE IS GIVEN. THE HEADINGS ARE 
ADOPTED FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF REFERENCE, AND 
TO GIVE SOME IDEA OF THE SUBJECTS TREATED ON. 



<$tt %im MmtxnQ. 



Oh ! the benighted state of mankind ! Thousands 
of highly professing Christians, and even many of 
our own Society, have so little knowledge of that 
solemn, awful, and most of all, profitable, worship of 
God, which is in spirit, and in truth, that they are 
ever offended, when the ministers of Christ, in faith- 
fulness to their holy shepherd and leader, are con- 
strained to keep silence ; not daring to rush forward 



99 

into vocal testimony, till they know him to put them 
forth, and go before them. Whereas, instead of 
being offended at this their reverent obedience to the 
Lord, every true worshipper is rather disposed to 
sympathize with them therein, and rejoice in their 
integrity to him, without whom they " can do nothing." 
And those who are thus exercised and carefully 
engaged, as the apostle advises, to feel after God," 
are so abundantly comforted and replenished with 
his holy presence, when they are favoured, (as they 
mostly are in their approaches to him, in solemn 
silence,) to "find him," that they have therein a " joy 
unspeakable, and full of glory," abundantly more 
consolatary and satisfactory to their souls, than the 
finest and most eloquent discourse, that the wisdom 
and oratory of man ever produced. 

Oh ! that mankind knew what it is, thus in reality 
to "draw near unto God;" for all that thus draw 
near him, will surely find that he "will draw near 
unto them," and that in a very sensible and soul- 
satiating manner. This is not a work of reasoning, 
nor a work of talking, but a work of sensation, 
a work of feeling. Hence, the beauty and divine 
propriety of the apostle's words, "feel after God;" 
as also of those other expressions, of tasting and 
handling the "good word of life, and powers of the 
world to come." 



100 



Too many take the warmth and flashes of their 
own forward spirits, for divine impulse and inspiration. 
Indeed some have gone great lengths into rank en- 
thusiasm and even ranterism, at different times in the 
world, under mistaken apprehensions of divine motions. 

I am as well settled in a firm belief of the reality of 
divine inspiration, and that it is as truly the privilege of 
Christians now, as ever it was of any in any age of 
the world, as I am of any doctrine of the gospel. It 
is no new thing for pretenders to assume it, who are 
sadly beguiled by the workings of a warm and wild 
imagination. A counterfeit is rather an evidence of 
a reality, than a solid argument against it. And 
though one, in the days of the apostles, might, un- 
authorized, set up for " the great power of God," or 
give out " that himself was some great one," it could 
not prevent the evident operations and displays of 
divine power, in and by the apostles. And as Christ 
was, according to his promise, with his people in that 
day, by the blessed influences and inspirations of his 
holy spirit, so he most assuredly will be with them " to 
the end of the world. ' ' Let all be careful to wait for his 
inward and spiritual coming; and by no means take up 
with a counterfeit appearance in his absence, lest the 



101 

sad mistake be too late discovered, and loss and dis- 
appointment be the dreadful consequence of the awful 
deception. 



#n ^tRBon anir ^tbthtxaxt. 



The outward sun can only be seen through the 
medium of its own light. Nothing lower or less can 
ever manifest or reveal it. A thousand other lights 
may be lighted up, or schemes contrived to exhibit or 
reveal its glory ; but it is impossible they should ever 
do it. The sun is essential light in itself. Other 
lights may show many other objects ; but any less 
lights will be swallowed up, or outshone by the rays 
of the sun, and cannot manifest the sun. Any greater 
or brighter light, if such could be in natural things, 
instead of revealing or showing us the sun, would but 
outshine, and so obscure it ; as we see the sun itself 
outshines, obscures, or hides wholly from our view, 
the stars that glow, and in brightness shine by night, 
when the sunbeams are withdrawn from our eyes, and 
let the lesser lights appear. So God can never be 
seen, but in his own divine light. He ever is light, 
and dwells always in the light, and "in him is 

H 



102 

no darkness at all." What then can ever manifest 
or reveal him, but his own light, by which he shineth 
in our hearts, to give us to know him, and behold 
his glory. Eeason is a lesser light, as the moon, to 
rule the night ; or things that not so much require 
the sun's immediate rays. Now, if we set reason 
to work, as a light to manifest God, it can never 
do it, so as to show him in his own bright glory. 
We see the moon. If we had never seen the sun, 
we should probably think the moon the greatest, 
brightest light, in naturals, as many think reason 
is in spirituals. Thus, as the moon could not 
manifest the sun, but would take up the attention, 
and obtain the confidence and esteem which belong 
only to the sun ; so, reason when relied on, in divine 
things, and considered as the greatest, brightest 
light in spirituals, instead of revealing God, leads 
into endless mistakes, and prevents the true revela- 
tion of God, by his own immediate rays of divine 
light ; by which obstruction he remains still hid 
from the wise and prudent, the learned, deep-read 
sons of science, and great masters of reason. But 
he is revealed unto babes ; who having all to learn, 
and not being built up with ideas and notions of 
their own knowledge and comprehension, keep an 
eye single to the light, till their whole mind becomes 
full of divine light, which is " the light of the 



103 

knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of 
Jesus Christ," " the light of the world." 

Now, let ns suppose we had long seen the "moon, 
and thought it the supreme outward light ; but that 
after a time, the sun should arise upon us ; query, 
would the moon reveal the sun, or assist in our seeing 
it ? Nay : but if we kept our eye on the moon, and 
obstinately turned from the sun's immediate shining, 
this looking at the moon would greatly hinder our 
clear view and knowledge of the sun, if not prevent 
it ; especially if the moon came between us and the 
sun ; for then it might totally eclipse and hide the 
sun from us ; but in no case could it ever give us to 
behold that so much brighter luminary. 

If we should pertinaciously persist, that the moon 
can, and must, and is designed to reveal or manifest 
the sun, and so keep our eye on the moon, even as 
it approaches nearer and nearer to the sun, eagerly 
hoping, by and by, to see the sun by moonlight ; we 
should find, that after a certain nearness of the 
moon's approach, it would be totally hid or obscured 
in the sun's bright blaze. 

In like manner, if we have not seen, or have paid 
no attention to the divine light, Gods immediate 
ray in the soul ; but have had our eye to human 
reason, as our greatest light, and thought it was so, 
and that God must be revealed by its shining ; and 



104 

after a season, the sun of righteousness should so 
arise and shine upon us, that we pretty clearly behold 
it as a light above, distinct from, and brighter far 
than mere human reason, in the discovery of God 
and of divine things ; yet, if we will set up mere 
hnman reason, as our supreme light, and obstinately 
keep our eye to it in preference, it may, and mourn- 
fully does, divert our attention from the immediate 
light of heaven. And if we suffer it to come, or 
place it between the eye of the mind and the divine 
light, it causes an eclipse. We may look and look, 
and think to see, till we are darkened and con- 
founded, and see nothing clearly. Or, if we reason 
and reason, and think thus to draw near to God, 
and behold his glory, we shall find there are certain 
bounds and limitations, all round on every side, 
within which reason cannot penetrate, but is swal- 
lowed up, confused, and darkened. Yet still within 
this circle, divine truth opens upon the passive mind, 
in full sunshine, as a clear light to our path, 
enlightening our darkness, and directing our way, 
in a sure and certain manner, in duties wherein 
reason is altogether blind, and affords no assistance. 
Not only are certain duties clearly manifested to the 
individuals to whom God makes them duties, (which 
reason can never discover,) but deep mysteries are 
opened, which mere human reason never saw, and, 



105 

to the end of ages, never shall see. The clearness 
of these discoveries depends ou the singleness of the 
eye to the divine light. 

But if we will pry and pry to behold these 
mysteries by moonlight, (that is, by reason, where 
reason ever fails, or is absorbed in light divine,) we 
may divert, perplex, and darken our own minds, (as 
the eye is dazzled that looks long for, or at the 
moon, just in the sun's full blaze,) but shall never 
by mere reason's dimmer beams, discover what 
divine light only can disclose or reveal. Yet still, 
if our eye be single to the true light of life, it shines 
bright, full, and clear : the whole body is full of light, 
and all things needful we behold and see. 

Thus, no lesser light than God himself, can reveal 
him clearly to our view, any more than the moon 
can the sun. For God being light in himself, even 
the greatest light of all, no lesser or borrowed light 
can exhibit him to our minds, in his true divinity, 
effulgency, and glory ; for all lesser lights must vail 
before him, and forbear their glimmering in his full 
blaze ; or, as the poet says of the stars, " hide their 
diminished heads." * * * * * * 

Those who, while they " have light, believe in the 
light," and walk in it, "they become the children 
of it," and are led into all truth. To these in 
every age, and among all people, God never fails 



106 

to fulfil his promise of sending the comforter to lead 
and guide them in the way of holiness, and unto 
the knowledge of all they need to know of divine 
things. 



Ixxixr mamr % %tikx kills 



Oh ! how many the LETTER hath killed ! 

And truly mournful it is that any should have been 
deadened, benumbed, or slain by the adminstration 
of the letter out of the life, among a people so high 
in profession of the [spirit, and of waiting for its in- 
'fluence, as we are ! My grief can only be guessed at 
by those who know not the difference between letter 
and life ; sound, and substance. But they only 
have a clear idea and feeling of it, who have groaned 
deeply under the one, and rejoiced with joy unspeak- 
able, in the arising and reigning of the other. 
Lord my God ! when wilt thou dry up the tongue 
of the Egyptian sea ; and cleanse the church from 
reprobate silver ? * * * * * 

I was led to deplore the low state of the ministry 
in our Society, with renewed desires, that our 
preaching might be such, through him who is the 



107 

resurrection and the life, that the dead may be 
raised : for the letter will kill, does kill, and has 
killed its tens of thousands. 



#n (Imputation. 



Oh ! that they may no longer stand idle in the 
market place ! for the sluggard still is, and ever 
will be, clothed in rags, spiritually. " If any 
man will not work, neither shall he eat ;" for 
certainly, in spirituals, as well as naturals, we must 
eat our bread in the sweat of our face, or in real 
exercise. Hence the injunction, Labour for the 
bread that comes down from heaven, and nour- 
ishes the soul up unto eternal life. There must 
be a labour, and he that will reign with Christ, 
must suffer with him; must drink of the cup 
he drank of, be baptized with the baptism he 
was baptized with, and witness the filling up of 
what remains of his sufferings, in his body, the 
church. Thus it is, that we come to know him in 
the fellowship of his sufferings ; and this brings 
us to know him in the power of his resurrection, and 
to live, walk, and reign with him, in newness of life ; 



108 

feeling him to be, indeed, a quickening spirit, the 
resurrection and the life ; quickening and raising 
us up into newness of the divine life, with him. Hence, 
where he is, we are also, beholding his glory, 
according to the prayer of Christ to his Father. Oh ! 
this is true religion. This is the mystery of the 
sufferings of Christ, in the saints. This is that 
knowledge of God, and of his son Jesus Christ, 
which is life eternal ; whilst all mere hearsays, all 
historical knowledge, will avail, without this, but little, 
if any thing, to our salvation. 

True faith has, in itself, something of the very 
substance of things hoped for, as well as that 
it is an evidence of things not seen. All other 
faith, or believing, however specious, and how much 
soever it seems to Honour Jesus ; call him Lord, Lord ; 
depends only on his righteousness, and dwells much 
upon the imputation thereof : if it does not purify the 
heart, overcome the world, and bring the soul to 
inherit substance, yea, a degree of " the sub- 
stance of things hoped for," it is a mere empty, 
lifeless pretence, like the body, which, without 
the soul is dead; for so declares the apostle, 
11 faith without works is dead also." 

The doctrine of imputation is much mistaken, by 
all who suppose it the privilege, and actual possession 
of the wicked, the profane, and unholy pretenders to 



109 

the name of Jesus. For there is no communion 
between light and darkness, Christ and Belial. " If 
we say, we have fellowship with him, and walk in 
darkness," we deceive ourselves, we lie, " and do not 
the truth." Lie, do we ? yea, verily. For no man 
can rightly call Jesus, Lord, but by the holy spirit. 
And as once, so now, it is possible to say " The 
Lord liveth," and yet to " swear falsely." But all 
who know his resurrection unto life, in their own 
souls ; who feel that he is alive, and lives for ever- 
more; and who also feel, that because he lives, 
they live also : these do not lie, but can in truth 
testify with Job, "I know that my redeemer 
liveth." These are heirs with him, heirs of God, 
and joint-heirs with Christ. And this is the 
attainment, the experience, and the enjoyment of the 
saints, even in this life. And all may witness the 
same, that will let Christ rule and reign in and over 
them. For he that will come, may come and par- 
take of the waters of life freely. 

Oh ! that mankind would away with all idle, 
imaginary, speculative dreams of faith, imputation, 
and son-ship, in a state of personal pollution, and 
come home to the plain, experimental faith that 
works by love, that purifies the heart, and 
causes those who therein love the Lord, to inherit 
substance. Vain are all pretences of imputation, 



no 

where the spirit sanctifies not from the power of 
sin. For God ever sees us as we are. And to 
suppose he sees us pure in Christ, by imputation, 
whilst we are absolutely impure in ourselves, is to 
suppose he sees us as we are not- For, as we are 
in ourselves, in our real, inward state, just so we 
are, everywhere, and in every medium, and no other- 
wise. And, till he saves us from, and not in, our 
sins, and purifies and makes us holy, in our own 
souls, he will never see, nor consider us to be holy 
in Christ. 

Oh ! therefore, arise, arise ! ye poor deceived 
nations ! Open your eyes and see, and abhor the 
sophistry, wherewith, through much learned impo- 
sition, ye are entangled, and bewildered in mists 
and fogs of darkness, error, and delusion. 

What abundance of pains is taken, time wasted, 
and expense incurred, to make your ministers. 

And when they are made, the more complete and 
accomplished they are in this kind of learning, the 
more able they are to impose on your understandings, 
the more readily can they disguise things, and cause 
bitter to pass for sweet, and sweet for bitter. 

With what vehemency, and even propriety, have 
Protestants rejected, exploded, and abhorred that 
old popish error of transubstantiation, which 
pretends the consecrated bread is Very Christ, 



Ill 

notwithstanding it remains to be corruptible, and 
must perish. And yet alas ! the sophistry of thy 
teachers, Protestantism ! has induced thee to 
believe another artful scheme of transub- 
stantiation, equally irrational, ridiculous, and 
impossible. Sinners, say they, are complete, clean, 
holy, just, and righteous in Christ, and yet remain 
very deficient, unclean, unholy, unjust, unrighteous, 
and wicked in themselves. 

Oh ! inexplicable paradox ! Oh ! impious impo- 
sition upon the understandings of men ! and vile 
effrontery against all the laws of God, and every 
dictate of truth and reason, faith and experience ! 
May this black monster of opinion, be sunk in the 
ocean of oblivion, and be no more held forth, to 
deceive and poison mankind. 



©tt ffittantxlxztwtx. 



God varies not. He knows no change. He loves 
the righteous, and hates sinners, (as we say,) and 
must do so for ever, they remaining such ; yet has 
he no different feelings or affections in himself. He 
consolates the one, and condemns the other ; is to 



112 

the one, a fountain of living waters * to the other, a 
consuming fire, at one and the same time ; and that 
not from any different natures or feelings in himself. 
All the diversity is in men and things ; and he is to 
them, as they are to him. To the pure he shows 
himself pure. To the froward he shows himself 
fro ward, (Psal. xviii.) and this in accordance with 
his nature, and the purity of his being. But why ? 
Because their frowardness begets, or is, in itself, a 
direct opposition or contrariety. Here is no recon- 
ciliation, no unity, nor harmony. But when his 
steady, uniform operation on the froward, has 
wrought such a sense of this opposition, and con- 
sequent unhappiness and distress, as gradually 
brings the mind into submission, and destroys the 
frowardness, a reconciliation and unity takes place ; 
and yet no alteration in God: though he here 
becomes what, as to that soul, he was not before, a 
fountain of living waters, and all in all. As to 
himself, he is always all; but as to us, he never 
is so, till all in us is brought into perfect subjection 
to him, and his manifested will and requirings. 
When this is the case, he is the whole spring of 
our life, and of all our actions. There are no selfish 
motions in opposition, or in frowardness. Here, we 
see, and can feelingly and sensibly say, that " of 
him, and through him, and to him, are all things ; 



113 

to whom be glory for ever." Here, all old things 
are done away ; " all things are become new, and 
all things are of God." We see there were old 
things to be done away, so all were not then new, 
nor all of God. But all the old being done away, 
all become new ; and so, all of God. And in this 
reconciliation, God is in Christ, carrying on the 
work. It is as to us, a special display and opera- 
tion of the divine energy, different far from many 
other operations of the same, which we see, and 
conceive of: yet, in God, there is never but one 
life, nature, operation, or affection. 

Many have a vain apprehension, that Christ will, 
or does save them, and reconcile them unto God, by 
his death, whilst they remain actual sinners in them- 
selves. This is as absolute an impossibility as any 
in nature. If we were not sinners, he could not 
reconcile us, because there would be no reconcilia- 
tion needful. Therefore, it is whilst we are sinners, 
that he is carrying on the work of reconciliation. 
But to complete it while we remain such, is impossible. 
That which lets, will let, till it is removed. And it 
is altogether chimerical to tell of removing it, by 
removing the wrath and indignation of God, whilst we 
remain in that which stands in eternal opposition to 
him. For this were only a change in him, not in 
us. He has no wrath, but what is, in him, the 



114 

same thing as his love. He is one. The contra- 
riety is in us. Had there been none in us, no 
reconciliation had been necessary. Whilst it remains 
in us, God must, and will shew himself froward to 
us; or, appear to us so : for he cannot change. The 
only possible reconciliation, therefore, is such a change 
in us, as removes sin and frowardness from us. 
Therefore, " thou shalt call his name Jesus, (a saviour,) 
for he shall save his people from their sins." He 
cannot possibly save them in sin. Sin is their only 
separation from God. Remove sin, and reconciliation 
must take place. Whilst it remains, neither men, 
angels, Christ himself, nor God Almighty, can save 
us, or reconcile us to God: for sin is opposition to 
him, and will be so for ever, while it remains. He 
cannot accept of a surety, so as to unite with us, 
whilst in our sins, because he must eternally, from 
the necessity of his nature, aud unchangeable oneness, 
be disposed in the same manner, to the same state. 



Kvfo WxubmL 



Man's boasted wisdom or learning is foolishness 
with God. It has been, and will be at war with 



115 

divine mysteries. It thinks it knows how to reason 
about them. It brings forth its strong reasons against 
them, and entangles the minds of thousands, in a 
confident rejection of heavenly truths. 

This will continue to be the case. For, as God 
determines to hide these things from the wise and 
prudent, they are suffered, as they will rely on their 
own understandings, to be blinded thereby, and to 
prefer a Babel of their own building, to the true, living, 
life-giving, and experimental truths of the gospel. 
But he that keeps a single eye to the light of Christ 
in his own heart, will find himself gradually filled, till 
he becomes full of divine light ; which will open and 
unfold to him "the deep things of God f give 
him to see many of the errors and false doctrines of 
mystery Babylon ; raise him up into the strength, vic- 
tory, and dominion of the divine life, and most sweetly 
lead the soul along through all the several stages and 
gradations of reconciliation, till God becomes all in all: 
This is something substantially experimental. All 
other schemes of salvation by Christ, are but so many 
dreams of man's imagination ; which, under high 
pretences of magnifying the merits of Christ, divert 
the soul from the only possible way of being benefited 
by them, or rightly understanding and magnifying them. 

But man will choose to remain in the mist, and 
generally would rather trust to any imaginary 



116 

means of salvation, than submit to the real means ; 
because this is only and always through death, real 
total death to all corrupt selfishness, all gratification 
and enjoyment out of the love and life of God. 
Indeed, no soul is thoroughly saved, till God is all 
its consolation. For, till then, God is not become 
its all in all; so death must still have place, in 
order that God may thereby put down and destroy 
all its enemies. This is the true reason why so few 
find the " narrow way " to life, because they will not 
submit to perfect death. They can easily be dipped 
in water, and call that being buried with Christ ; 
which is, at best, but a mere shadow of the thing 
itself, and brings no soul to arise with him in the 
newness of life. But in the newness of life, all 
must arise with him, even here, and here know 
him to be to them, and in them, " the resurrection 
and the life," that will ever be able to say, because 
he lives, we live also. None will ever live with him, 
who do not really die with him ; nor reign with him, 
without suffering with him; drinking of the cup which 
he drank of, and being baptized with the baptism he 
was baptized with ; which is strictly and truly the 
baptism of sufferings, and into real death : thus 
filling up what remains behind of the " sufferings of 
Christ." They are indeed truly his sufferings, 
not metaphorically, or transferredly, or imputatively, 



117 

but absolutely. Hence, " forasmuch as ye have 
done it unto one of these, ye have done it unto 
me." These are bone of his bone, and flesh of 
his flesh; these little ones, these births of divine 
life that can truly cry, Abba, Father. God being in 
the strictest sense their Father, they are absolutely 
heirs of God, yea, joint-heirs with Christ; he in 
them, and they in him, as himself says ; and that as 
really and truly as he is in the Father, and the 
Father in him. So he calls them brethren : he is and 
must be unavoidably with them, not now and then only, 
but " alway, even unto the end of the world." They 
are his very members, the real branches of him, the 
vine. Now, the vine is not one thing, and the branch 
another, in nature and kind, but one in absolute 
union ; the same sap of life circulates through both, 
and all the fruit is in the real union and oneness. * * 
Keason, I know, or what men call reason, will rear 
its haughty front against this mystery, as it has uni- 
formly done, through all ages, against every divine 
opening and communication, and has supposed she 
has raised insurmountable difficulties and objections. 
This was eminently the case in the days of Christ's 
appearance in that visible, prepared body. The wise 
and learned had too much wisdom and reason, (so 
called,) to believe on him, or in his doctrine. The 
wise and learned have as much wisdom and reason now, 



118 

and therefore will not now believe in him or his doc- 
trine, as he gradually opens it. (For then he opened it 
not all at once. "Ye cannot bear them now," said 
he.) But though this wisdom and reason may enjoy 
a supposed victory, and imaginary triumph over the 
true doctrine of Christ, even in and among PRO- 
FESSORS OF HIS NAME, (THAN WHOM 
NO RANKER UNBELIEVERS DWELL 
UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH,) yet 
the unbelief of these can never make void the faith of 
God's elect, who are chosen in Christ, in the covenant 
and union of the divine life, wherein "he that is joined 
to the Lord, is one spirit." 



(Bn Cjrrist foittg MiijrhL 



Read his discourse with his disciples, and prayer 
to his Father, in several of the last chapters of John, 
and see how clearly he was leading their minds to 
look inward, for his spiritual appearance, and therein 
for the enjoyment of the antitype of many outward 
types and ceremonies. "Where I am, there also 
shall my servant be." Chap. xii. 26. " While you 
have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be 



119 

the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and 
departed, and did hide himself from them." ver. 36. 
Why did he hide from them, but to teach them to 
look inward, for what he was pointing them to ? And 
yet it follows in the very next words, " but though he 
had done so many miracles before them, yet they 
believed not on him." They did not understand the 
inward spirituality of his meaning, and so were stag- 
gered. For, according to the next verse, we may 
conclude " the arm of the Lord " was not yet clearly- 
revealed unto them. They were still looking 
outward, as many now are, resting in the old, outward 
signs, so clearly, and so long ago fulfilled. Again, 
ver. 44, 45 : "He that believeth on me, believeth 
not on me, but on him that sent me;" and "he 
that seeth me, seeth him that sent me." Did ever 
one that saw Jesus outwardly, see him that sent 
him? Surely, nay. But he was leading them to 
something more inward, which whoever clearly saw, 
did assuredly see him that sent him ; something which 
the world saw not, even his inward and spiritual 
appearance, "the spirit of truth, whom the world 
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither 
knoweth him ; but ye know him, for he dwelleth with 
you, and shall be in you." Chap. xiv. ver. 17. "Yet 
a little while, and the world seeth me no more; 
but ye see me : because I live, ye shall live also. At 



120 

that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father, and 
you in me, and I in you." 

Oh! how engaged he was, to teach them to look 
within, for the enjoyment of his real, living presence; 
where he, being with and in them, (where the 
kingdom of heaven is, as himself declares ; that is, 
within,) would then and there, drink with them 
the new wine of the inward, heavenly kingdom 
of God, then soon to come with power and great 
glory ; thereby completely fulfilling the outward 
signs thereof. " I will not leave you comfortless ; 
I will come to you." ver. 18. As much as to say, 
in order to make them understand him clearly, that 
the comforter, which he told them a few words 
before, he would pray the Father, and he would send 
unto them, to abide with them for ever, even the 
spirit of truth, was none other than himself in spirit. 
Well therefore might he say, " Yet a little while, and 
the world seeth me no more, but ye see me," &c, 
for the world seeth him not with clearness, as a spirit, 
as he is come a light into the world; because 
their deeds being evil, they hate the light, turn from 
it, and rebel against it. It will reprove and condemn 
their evil deeds, it will shine in their dark hearts ; 
but the darkness comprehendeth it not. And thus, 
the world, instead of receiving it, and believing in 
it, do all they can to darken it, shut it out, and get 



121 

rid of it. So, being, as mentioned in the book of 
Job, of those who rebel against the light, they know 
not the way thereof, nor understand, nor abide in the 
paths thereof. 

But although the disciples had some small knowledge 
of Christ, as an inward life to their souls, as a living, 
quickening, spirit ; still they were too much outward, 
too much ignorant of him in spirit. This made it 
very expedient for them, that he should go away, 
and leave them, as an outward comforter ; that 
so they might look for him within. For, so long as 
they were stopping short, that is, in his outward ap- 
pearance, or any outward type of him, or of his inward 
appearance, inward wine, &c, their attention could 
not be enough inward to receive him in his most 
essential, substantial, and life-giving coming and 
appearance; according to his own words, "If I go 
not away, the comforter will not come." Now, that 
they were yet too much outward, and in some degree 
ignorant of the inward or spiritual reality of things, 
(as thousands, high in profession, now are,) is very 
clearly shown in these several chapters of John. For 
instance, when Jesus told them, chap. xiv. 7, "If ye 
had known me, ye should have known my Father 
also ; and from henceforth ye know him, and have 
seen him," they were far from clearly understanding, 
that every eye that saw through the outward veil of 



122 

his body of flesh, so as to see and know the holy and 
only begotten son, and word of God, that dwelt in 
that body, saw also, the everlasting Father. Hence, 
one of them ignorantly answered him, saying, "Lord, 
show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Jesus, still 
intent upon making them acquainted with this one 
truth, "the kingdom of heaven is within you," replied 
in a way that gently reproved their ignorance of divine 
things. " Have I been so long time with you, and yet 
hast thou not known me, Philip ? He that hath seen 
me," (the real, inward, spiritual me, Christ within, 
the hope of glory,) " hath seen the Father : and how 
sayest thou then, shew us the Father ?" What words 
could he have used, more clearly to show, that those 
who had only seen him as an outward man, had never 
yet clearly and fully seen the Lord's Christ, nor known 
him ? a Have I been so long time with you, and hast 
thou not known me, Philip ?" Hast thou rested in 
themere knowledge of my outward, bodily appearance? 
Dost thou take this body for me, who am the holy 
and eternal word, one with the Father, that was in 
the beginning with God, and was God ; in which word 
is life, and which life is the light of the world, the 
true light that lighteth every man that cometh into 
the world ! Look not too much outward, Philip ! 
Look inward. Acquaint thyself with God within, and 
be at peace. He that looks beyond this veil of flesh, 



123 

tHs body that is prepared for me to do the Father's 
will in, and comes really to know me, the living 
etarnal me, or I am, the Emmanuel, God with 
Hen, and so beholds my real, inward glory, the glory 
as of the only begotten son of God, full of grace and 
trrth; he it is that hath known my Father also. And 
therefore, as I am about to go away, which is expe- 
dient, on account of your outwardness in viewing 
thngs, that so you may turn inward, and be prepared 
toreceive me within, in my spiritual coming, as your 
hepe of glory — for I will not leave you comfortless ; 
I vill come unto you — therefore, I say unto you, that 
"froni henceforth," (having now got some real know- 
ldge of me,) ye also know the Father, and have seen 
Km, "for I am in the Father, and the Father in me." 
These last words he repeated, affirming twice over, 
n a very few verses, it being the very life of the 
whole mystery, "I am in the Father, and the Father 
in me." And he urges them to believe it too : for 
it seems, notwithstanding all his doctrines and miracles, 
they did not fully know him, nor clearly understand, 
that Christ himself, as well as God the Father, is a 
spirit, yea, one spirit; nor that they were to receive 
him, the spirit of truth, to abide with them for 
ever, as their comforter, leader into all truth, and 
great remembrancer. And for want of fully knowing 
these things, when he, a little after, told them, "he 



124 

that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I 
will love him, and will manifest myself to him," oie 
of them readily asked him, " How is it that thou wilt 
manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world ?' 

Oh ! how outward their views were still inclimd 
to be ! Had they fully known Christ, they would hfve 
had, (as the saints now have,) a living acquaintaice 
with him, their light and leader, their shephed, 
putting them forth and going before them, their oily 
hope of glory; they eating him, and so living >y 
him ; and knowing that because he lived, they livd 
also ; drinking his blood spiritually, the new aid 
living wine ; and abiding in him, the vine, they coui 
not have been at a loss to know how he manifest 
himself to the saints, and not unto the world. WeL 
he, ever gracious, still condescends to their weakness \ 
and in order to centre their minds in an inward 
looking for him, and withal, to let them know, that 
wherever he took up his abode, the Father took up 
his also, he further informs them, "If a man love 
me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love 
him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode 
with him." 



125 



#tt Suffering toiijr Christ. 



As sure as God was, or is, in Christ, so sure is 
Christ in man, reconciling poor sinners to himself, 
through the death of the cross. And it is utterly 
vain to hope for salvation in any other way, than 
through death with Christ, to every sinful motion. 
It is, and it was, and it ever will he, through suf- 
fering and death to tjie first nature, that salvation 
must be known. 

This is the mystery of the sufferings, and of the 
fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. Some may 
call me an heretic, when I confess unto them, that I 
expect no final benefit from the death of Jesus, in 
any other way than through fellowship with him in 
his sufferings. But after the way which they call 
heresy, worship I the God of my fathers, truly 
believing in the history of Christ's life, death, resur- 
rection, ascension and glory; and desiring more and 
more to " know him, and the fellowship of his suffer- 
ings," and to be made, not in part only, but fully 
11 conformable to his death ;" that I may, like him, 
and with him, be put to death in the flesh, but quick- 
ened in and by the spirit. For I quite despair of 
heaven, on any other terms. 



126 

I read this in all the works and operations of 
nature. I read it plainly in the law. I read it plainer 
in the gospel. And I read the beginnings, and a 
good progression thereof, plainest of all in the inward 
experience of my own exercised soul. In natural 
things, the wheat must fall into the earth and die, or 
it will never bring forth fruit. In the law, without 
blood there was no remission. Death was, even in 
the figure, necessary in order to atonement for sin. 
The firstling of the flock, was then called for. The 
very life of the firstling was t|ken away, as typical of 
our sinful life, in the first nature ; for, as says the 
apostle, "that was not first which is spiritual, but 
that which is natural ; and afterward, that which is 
spiritual." Moreover, the burnt offerings, sacrifices 
made by fire, as a sweet savonr to the Lord, how 
clearly they point out the Lord's refining furnace, 
and his powerful burnings in us, as an oven, 
against all pride, and all in us that does wickedly, 
in any way or degree ! 

In the gospel dispensation, this doctrine shines 
forth with divine brightness, in all the sufferings, and 
agonizing tribulations, the vinegar and gall, and the 
finally patient death of Jesus Christ, on the cross : 
and in the plentiful testimony in the New Testament, 
that what remains behind of his sufferings, must be 
filled up in his body, the Church ; that if we die with 



127 

him, we shall live ; if we suffer with him, we shall 
reign with him ; if we save our life, we shall lose it ; 
if we lose it for his sake, we shall find it : in that 
Paul died daily, and desired to know nothing, 
but Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and to know 
his old man crucified, with the affections aud lusts. 
And abundance more that might be mentioned ; much 
of which, I perhaps should never have understood, had 
not the Lord my God led me through many lessons of 
experience, in the substance of them in my own soul. 
Oh ! that a perfect death may come upon every thing 
in me, which is contrary to that life, that is " hid with 
Christ in God ;" that where he is, I may be also ; a 
living witness that though he was dead, yet he is alive, 
and liveth forevermore ; aud that because he liveth, I 
live also ; feeling and knowing that whosoever truly 
believeth in him, though he were dead, yet shall 
he live; and will live, reign, and triumph with him, 
over death, hell, and the grave, forever. Amen. 



©it Jmmttrmte ^tbdntxan. 



In the year 1770, being about nineteen years old, 
I became more fully and clearly convinced, and that 



128 

very much by .the immediate operations, illuminations, 
and openings of divine light in my own mind, that 
this inward something, which had been thus long 
and powerfully striving with me, disturbing my every 
false rest, confuting every false and sin-flattering 
imagination of flesh and blood, or of the grand adver- 
sary, and enjoining it upon me to give up all, and 
walk in the ways of virtue and true self-denial, was 
the true and living spirit and power of the 
eternal God, the very same that strove with the old 
world; influenced the patriarchs, prophets, and 
apostles ; and visits, strives with, and at seasons more 
or less influences the hearts of all mankind. I now 
saw this the only principle of all true conversion and 
salvation; that so long as this was resisted and 
rejected, separation must infallibly remain between 
God and the soul; but that, whenever this is received, 
and in all things thoroughly submitted to, a thorough 
reconciliation takes place. 

Some may think this doctrine robs Christ of the 
honour of our redemption and reconciliation, but I 
apprehend none can think so, who understand the 
doctrine of salvation by Jesus. It was through the 
eternal spirit, this very spirit that visits and strives 
with all, that Christ offered up that prepared body. 
It is through, and only through, the influence of the 
same holy spirit, that any soul was ever converted to 



129 

God, or savingly benefited by the redemption that 
is in Jesus. Whatever way, soul, or by whatever 
means thou art benefited in a spiritual sense, it is by 
this holy spirit, that is the immediate operative 
power and principle within thee. 

The death of Christ is nothing at all to thee, 
savingly, further than thou hast the living, saving 
efficacy of it sealed to thee. Nothing can possibly 
do this, without touching and changing thy heart. If 
thou dost not feel it, it is nothing. Thou may 
imagine and dream a thousand things about faith, 
regeneration, and imputation; but unless the holy 
spirit change thee, and give thee to feel and know 
salvation, in and for thy own soul, thou would be just 
as much benefited, by imagining that Joseph of Arima- 
thea, or any other person, had purchased thy salvation ; 
and that by imputation of what he had done, God 
would, at some future time, save thee. For every 
thing that is not felt, is as totally unavailing to thee, 
as the most ungrounded imagination : and until thou 
sensibly feelest some real benefit, thou hast received 
no more, substantially and savingly, than thou mightest 
receive by a strong imagination, persuasion, and hope, 
from any other quarter. 

While the doctrine of salvation by Christ, is only 
ideal with thee, it is nothing as yet experimentally 
in thy possession. And ideal it is, must, and ever will 



130 

"be, till thou feelest it. And feel it savingly, thou 
never canst, but in and by the holy spirit, the 
very life of the whole mystery. 

Christ says in so many words, "It is the spirit 
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. " Thou 
mayest think Christ can do something for thee, without 
the spirit. If thou dost think so, thou hast not yet 
learned the A, B, C, of religion. Neither Christ, 
nor any thing else can, in the least degree, 
regenerate thy soul, but through the holy 
spirit. Blessings, curses, judgments, sickness, pain, 
famine, preaching, reading, and all providences, so 
far as they profitably affect thy mind, are set home 
by the spirit of God, and could otherwise no more 
operate to a real change in thee, than infection could 
be conveyed to thy body, communicate the small-pox, 
or any other disorder, and thereby terminate thy life, 
and yet never touch thee. 

" God is a spirit.' ' Is thy heart changed ? Then 
God changed it. And what is the change ? If saving, 
it is thy soul joined to thy God: for there never was, 
nor can be, any other salvation of the soul. Thou 
art born again, as truly so as ever thou wast born of 
a woman. It is a real birth, arising from a real 
union of the seed of God, and man, spiritually. 
Thou art absolutely born of "the incorruptible seed 
and word of God." This joins thee to the Lord. 



131 

" He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." Thou 
art become a son of the living God, by real, and not 
by mere metaphorical, regeneration. This makes 
thee a true heir of all things ; of all that is God's ; 
— an "heir of God, and joint-heir with Christ." 
Christ is the begotten of the Father, so art thou, if 
truly regenerated ; if not, all thy talk of faith avails 
thee nothing. But, if begotten, and born of God, 
thou art as certainly, a joint-heir, as thou art a 
true believer. 

Religion, or regeneration, is a reality ; and all the 
substantial reality of it, centres in one word, "Em- 
manuel," that is, " God with man." And until 
something of this union is livingly known, there is 
nothing known of true religion. The world, under 
various forms of profession, is amused with dreams, 
systems, and imaginations, whilst the " one thing 
needful " is too little experienced. The one thing 
needful is real union with God, an actual 
joining to him, in the one spirit. Without this union, 
let a man know what he will ; believe, possess, and 
enjoy whatever he may or can, he is but an alien, and 
a wanderer on the earth. Nothing else can ever 
satisfy his soul, or abidingly stay his mind. There 
is no other possible permanent rest for the sole of 
his foot. He may drive, toil, and bustle about, and 
many may think him in a state of enjoyment ; but it 



132 

is all a delusion. In the midst of all earth's caresses 
if he presumes to declare himself happy, he does 
violence to truth and his own feelings, and the truly 
" wise are privy to the lie." If he professes religion, 
goes to meeting, practises the exteriors of devotion, 
and talks much about faith and godliness, it may, for 
a moment, quiet his mind, and deceive his own soul 
and others ; bnt long he cannot rest composed, with- 
out living union with God. He may turn to the 
right and left, look this way and that, seek enjoyment 
in society, in sensual gratifications, in wealth, honour, 
and worldly advancement; or he may read, pray, 
meditate, sing, write, and dip deeply into creaturely 
devotion : but without this vital union, he is lost, 
unanchored, " miserable, poor, blind, and naked." 
And this is mournfully the case, at this day, in the 
divers outward communions, with many, who are 
striving hard to make themselves believe, that they 
are, notwithstanding, "rich, and increased with goods, 
and have need of nothing." 



#n % mm*. 



The word nigh in the heart and in the 
mouth, Paul expressly declares is "the word of 



133 

faith, which we preach," and is CHRIST IN MAN; 
for, says he, referring to the words of Moses, il The 
righteousness which is of faith, speaketh on this wise : 
Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven ? 
(that is, to bring Christ down from above;) or, who 
shall descend into the deep ? (that is, to bring up 
Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it ? 
The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in 
thy heart, that is, the word of faith which we preach." 
It is clear, Paul here understands the word, appearing 
and speaking in the heart, to be nothing short of 
CHRIST IN SPIRIT, or the WORD WHICH 
WAS IN THE BEGINNING; and that the 
true Christian righteousness and faith, stand in this 
holy, inward principle; — which is something that 
we are capable of hearing, and that so intelligibly, 
as to be able through its helping influence, to do the 
things it requires of us. This is that voice, of which 
it is said, " Thou shalt hear a voice behind thee, saying, 
This is the way, walk in it." 

Paul opposed the doctrine of Christ, notwithstanding 
all outward evidences and arguments, "till it pleased 
God to reveal his son in him." This came home 
to the quick, and convinced him that Christ in man, 
was the very riches and glory of God's inheritance 
in the saints ; the very mystery which had 
been hid from ages; and which being revealed, 



134 

was seen to be the sure hope of glory. 

If there had ever been any other way of salvation, 
than that which is in the Emmanuel state, which 
is a real union of God and man, God with us, 
wherein "he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit," 
in the heavenly unity, Christ's coming and suffering 
in that prepared body would have had no relation or 
analogy to the salvation of souls. Salvation is ever 
one thing, through all ages ; and that one thing is, 
the life of man joined in a holy oneness with the life 
of God; wherein God becomes all in all, in the 
government and direction of the man. This is brought 
about by the overshadowing of the holy ghost, being 
attended to by the mind of man, embraced and wholly 
joined in with ; thus bringing forth a new creature, 
that is born of God, of the very life and seed of 
God, "the incorruptible seed and word of God, that 
liveth and abideth for ever." This is the new birth. 
Any thing but this being taken for the new birth, 
deceives the soul, and beguiles it of its true fellowship 
with God. He that has faith in Christ, has Christ 
more or less risen in him. The knowledge of 
him after the flesh, avails not. For though we 
may have known him after the flesh, and striven to 
make that knowledge answer, "yet now henceforth, 
(as saith the apostle,) we know him so no more." 
Paul knew that a faith in Christ's mere out- 



135 

ward appearance or coming, was not the true 
faith. He knew that " the flesh profiteth nothing. " 
It is that knowledge of Christ, wherein "the spirit 
quickeneth" and maketh alive, that is the true "life 
eternal," and salvation of the soul. It is a work of 
God in man, wherein man worketh by and with 
God; and herein, as in the outward, "the man is 
not without the woman, nor the woman without the 
man;" so it is in the inward, spiritual work in the 
Lord." The new creature is brought forth or 
produced, through the co-operation of man with 
God, whereby man works out his own salvation, 
through yielding to God's working in him, by his grace 
or spirit, to will and to do. The work can go on no 
further than man goes on with God in it; nor can a 
birth of God, any more be brought forth in man, 
without the man's co-action, than outwardly the man 
is without the woman. Neither can the new birth 
ever be effected by man himself, without the over- 
shadowing of the holy ghost upon him, any more than 
outwardly the woman is without the man. God, of 
his mere free grace and goodness, visits, invites, woos, 
and overshadows the mind of man: if man joins in 
and works with God, the work goes forward, the new 
birth is brought forth, and thus the soul's salvation 
is wrought out ; that is, man is joined to the Lord 
in the heavenly oneness, wherein his fellowship is 



136 

with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ. 

But if man slights, neglects, turns from, or rebels 
against this precious visitation, and overshadowing 
of the holy spirit, he remains in a state of separation 
and alienation from God. Thus "many are called, 
but few are chosen," because though "all have heard," 
yet they have not all obeyed the call. Many disobey, 
and grievously rebel against the holy spirit, that 
is "given unto every man to profit withal." 
But though a man rebel. to that degree, as to render 
himself almost insensible of it, for a time, yet it will 
again speak, and, in an awakening manner, declare 
unto man his thoughts. It will, as it were, strike 
up a light in obscurity, that will manifest the hidden 
things of dishonesty, notwithstanding all the artful 
reasonings of flesh and blood, or cunning evasions of 
worldly wisdom, by which God never was, nor can 
be known. 

The man who walks humbly in the sight of God, 
and transgresses not the testimony of truth in his 
own heart, is in the way to eternal blessedness, let 
his belief be whatever it may, or his allotment in 
whatever dark corner of the earth it may be ; while 
he who rebels against the light that shines in 
his own heart, let his profession be ever so splendid, 
his faith ever so literally orthodox, or his zeal ever so 
ardent, he is not in the way of life and salvation, 



137 

but is in the way of danger ; and if he persists in 
such rebellion, will inevitably perish. Man may, and 
too often does, resist and grieve the holy spirit, turn 
the grace of God into wantonness, or turn from it to 
wantonness ; and thus he may provoke the Lord from 
time to time, till his spirit cease to strive with him, 
and till he be shut up in everlasting darkness. 

thou wise reasoner ! thou acute disputer, and 
cunning unbeliever! Though thou mayst set at 
defiance the just judgments of God, and endeavour 
to eradicate from thy mind every idea of future 
punishment, and to overthrow the foundation of 
moral obligation ; — believe me, thy wisdom is fool- 
ishness ; thy liberty is bondage ; thy life is a life 
of thraldom ; and, without amendment, thy end will 
be disappointment. Tribulation and anguish will 
find thee. The worm that dies not, and the fire 
that is not quenched, thou wilt not be able to escape. 
These are solemn things. I entreat thee, sport not 
away thy precious moments. For thy own soul's 
sake, I beseech thee, be serious. Say not, these 
awful apprehensions of futurity are the vain imagi- 
nations of an infatuated mind, or the idle dreams of 
a distempered fancy. I tell thee, thou art mistaken ! 
But, perhaps, thou dost not, or rather, wilt not, be- 
lieve me ; however, it highly behoves thee to consider 
seriously, that at least thou mayst be mistaken. 



138 

I would advise thee, if thou art cool enough for calm 
reflection, to try whether thou canst find an answer, 
that will satisfy thy own conscience, to each of the 
following queries : 

First. What is that in my own mind, which 
condemns me for sin, or for opposition to its own 
manifestations ? 

Second. Why can I not, by all my art and reason- 
ing, so stifle it, but that it will, at times, break 
forth, like the sun through the clouds, setting my 
sins in order before me ? or, at least, accusing me 
with defection, and reproaching me with a sense of 
my own wretchedness ? 

Third. Has chance woven this condemning wit- 
ness, into all men's constitutions ? Is it in me, and 
in all, undesignedly, and for no good purpose ? or, 
has the God of nature placed it in every mind, and, 
as it were, stamped it on every heart, in order to 
the restraint, restoration, and preservation of man- 
kind ? 

Fourth. Can it be of the devil ? Will he reprove 
and condemn the very actions which he inclines me to ? 

Fifth. Can it be merely natural ? Will nature 
condemn for its own gratifications ? Is nature up in 
arms against itself ? Are not two things, which are 
constantly and irreconcilably opposite to each other, 
of different natures ? 



139 

Sixth. Have I any reason to believe that God 
would subject me and all mankind, to the tormenting 
sting of this condemning principle, through the whole 
course of life, when it is violated, and its jurisdiction 
infringed, and that beyond the possibility of getting 
fully rid of it, or long avoiding its scourges ; and yet 
that he will, though we live and die in rebellion 
against it, the moment after death, remove it from 
us, so that we never more shall feel its sting ? 

Seventh. Have I not much more reason to believe 
that when separated from everything which, in this life, 
serves, in degree, to drown its voice, or divert my at- 
tention from it, to blunt the painful sensibility of its 
influence, and alleviate my distress, I shall sink into 
the gulf of its tormenting operation, feel the full force 
of its power, and be obliged to drink the full cup of its 
indignation, (or of God's divine indignation in it,) with- 
out mixture ; having nothing any longer to mitigate 
my misery, or divert my mind from its only painful 
theme, to wit : my weight of woe and condemnation ? 

Eighth. As it is altogether unreasonable to suppose, 
that God has subjected man to the domineering influ- 
ence of an arbitrary and tyrannical principle within 
himself ; — as the principle which we find condemning 
all evil, is just in all its decisions, and gives us no 
pain or uneasiness, but when we transgress ; — as it 
is highly probable, that the sentence pronounced by 



140 

this impartial and accurately discriminating judge, 
will be eternally confirmed by God, who placed us 
under the tuition and inspection of it ; — as it appears, 
from the precision of its all-righteous determinations, 
from its exactness in scrutinizing all our deviations, 
from its faithfulness in reprehending all evil ; indeed, 
from every rational consideration respecting it, and 
respecting its operations and office in man, to be the 
voice of God himself, the immediate opera- 
tion of his power, his holy law written in the 
heart, and, as it were, his vicegerent on earth:— 
is it not much more truly wise, noble, and prudent, 
to keep on the safe side, live in conformity to its 
dictates, and die in peace, and fulness of hope, con- 
solation, and holy assurance ; as we are told all do, 
who strictly obey it ? Is not this much better, than 
to violate its wholesome admonitions ; live in per- 
petual pain, condemnation, and inquietude ; die in 
horror, anxiety, and amazement ; and run the dread- 
ful hazard of eternal pain and wretchedness? 



#« fUrfation- 



Oh! that I may be preserved pressing forward with 
full purpose of heart towards a state of perfect freedom 



141 

from sin. I know well that no one sin can be morti- 
fied and overcome, but through divine assistance ; 
but as certainly as the power of God upon us can, or 
ever does, enable us to overcome any one evil, so 
certainly it is able to assist us to the complete over- 
coming of all; and we may rely upon it, he will 
redeem us from all iniquity, unless the stubborn- 
ness of our wills prevent. If Jerusalem's children 
had given up their own wills, Christ would have 
gathered them. According to his own testimony he 
would, but they would not. 

This, at once, strikes directly against the doctrine 
of absolute, unconditional election and reprobation ; 
and also against the doctrine of a necessity of con- 
tinuing in sin. He that would gather from one 
sin would from all, were it not for the "would 
not," on our part. If he can, and would, gather 
and redeem from all sin, then there is no impossi- 
bility of our living without sin. If there is an im- 
possibility of our attaining to any state in this life, it 
is no sin in us to fall short of it. If we attain all 
that we can, we are perfect ; for nothing which we 
cannot, is required, or even considered by our God 
as belonging to the idea of perfection in us. If any 
of us have fully improved all divine assistance afforded 
us ; have done all we can, and are yet actual sinners 
and transgressors at the present time, let such main- 



142 

tain the necessity of sin for term of life ; but then let 
them not lay the blame to man, but to him, who, 
according to this notion, withholds assistance sufficient 
to perfect the work. But if any have not yet duly 
improved the talents committed to them, let them not 
presume to determine, that a due improvement thereof, 
would not render their state perfect, according to 
their kind, and to what God requires of them. If 
men would honestly occupy their Lord's money, it 
would soon redeem them from the injurious and 
unjust complaint, contained in the doctrine which 
maintains the necessity of sin, during life — that God 
is austere, reaping where he has not sowed, and 
gathering where he has not strewed ; and it would 
give them such an evidence of the sufficiency of the 
power of grace upon them, to redeem from all evil, 
as would remove all doubt about it. 



#tt j)rajj*r. 



Alas ! for many professing Christians of our day ! 
How little they are aware of the prevalence of idolatry 
among them ! The same indeed in the ground, spring, 
and substance of it, as that which is so repeatedly and 



143 

severely reproved in the scriptures. For truly, every 
offering which is not of God's immediate preparation 
in us, is idolatry, and not a whit more useful to men, 
or acceptable to God, than those idolatries among the 
Jews. 

" The preparation of the heart in man, and the 
answer of the tongue, are of the Lord." And who- 
ever presumes to offer an offering, that he has not 
prepared, is implicitly saying, that God Almighty 
can be moved, influenced, and induced by a sound of 
words, or by the warmth and passions, or vehement 
affections and address of man. When God draws 
out our souls, as it were, towards him, through his 
own mighty power, and lively influence upon us, and 
lays upon us a living necessity to call upon him, it 
never, yea, never fails to do us good. But it is 
he only that therein does us good. It is not we 
that do ourselves good, or that stir him up, or 
move him to do us good. And, therefore, all prayer, 
which is not of his immediate begetting in us, is 
mockery and idolatry. " We know not what to pray 
for," but as his holy " spirit helpeth our infirmities," 
and teacheth us. And it is often the case, that even 
then, when his spirit sensibly helpeth our infirmities, 
and giveth us the clear knowledge what to pray for, 
we cannot safely, nor without the loss of the very 
life, and help, and holy unction thus afforded us, 



144 

even attempt the vocal utterance of those petitions, 
which he enables us silently, fervently, and effectually 
to address unto him. For the help thus afforded, 
amounts at those seasons, only to the begetting of, 
and is wholly terminated in, groanings which 
cannot be vocally, and at the same time, 
livingly and acceptably uttered. And oh ! how 
grievously do they err from the true standard of all 
acceptable prayer, who, at such times, in their own 
strength and forward willings and runnings, will be 
intruding upon God and the assembly, a vocal 
utterance of that, which, according to his design, 
and to the utmost of his present assistance, cannot 
be profitably uttered. 

The forward will and warmth of man's spirit may, 
at any time when he has the use of speech, prompt 
him to the utterance of any thing that he has the 
conception of; and often does so prompt him, to his 
great loss in, or the prevention of his attainment of, 
real substance. But rightly to utter a request to God, 
always requires his divine, living, and immediate 
assistance. So that though men may, in a formal, 
lifeless, or even very animated manner, in the sparks 
of their own kindling, utter almost any thing that arises 
in their minds ; yet seeing that without divine quali- 
fication for vocal utterance, as well as inward silent 
groanings, no man can rightly and usefully utter 



145 

any thing before God, — it is truly said, in this sense 
of the expression, that many times, even what we are 
rightly enabled to breathe and groan inwardly to God 
for, "cannot be uttered." 

"He that believeth must not make haste." In- 
deed, whenever he rightly believeth, he dares not 
be hasty ; for he always then knows, that his help 
is only in God ; that the root must bear him, and 
not he the root; that God must move him, and 
that he cannot move God. All true prayer is the 
soul livingly in real motion towards God, truly draw- 
ing near to him, and laying hold of him. This, 
man never did of himself, and never will do. Nor 
can he any more draw God to him, or induce him 
to show favour, or grant requests, than he can go to 
God. Therefore, the breathings of his soul are, often 
in silence and sometimes in utterance, "Draw me, 
and I will run after thee." He knows that unless he 
really thus draws near to God, his vocal prayers are 
useless. He knows that he never does draw near to 
God, but when God draws him ; therefore he waits 
for that ' ' preparation of the heart and answer of the 
tongue," which are indeed " of the Lord." And in 
this, he as certainly draws near to God, as he ever 
fails of it by all his own willings and runnings. He 
knows, if he kindles a fire, in the warmth and vehe- 
mency of his own forward affections and desires, and 



146 

warms himself, or others, by the sparks of his 
own kindling, that God has said, and will fulfil it 
to all such, "This shall ye have of mine hand, 
saith the Lord, ye shall lie down in sorrow." 
Therefore he is afraid to tempt God; and dares 
not, like some formerly, set up his altar under 
every green tree; dares not rush into utter- 
ance, with every fresh motion even of divine life; 
much less without any such motion at all. Indeed, 
he finds it far more useful, to commune with his own 
heart, and be still, and inwardly to wait upon God, 
than to run without his requirings. 

Waiting upon God, implies a time of patient 
looking for his coming, and waiting, to know his will, 
and receive his orders. Willing and running, and hastily 
intruding upon him with expression and utterance of 
our own, is not waiting. "I waited patiently,' ' 
says David, " upon the Lord." Here was patience, 
and holy expectation ; not rushing hastily forward. 
And what was the consequence ? Why, God heard 
his cry, and, says David, "He inclined unto me." 
Here was a real experience and real discernment of 
the Divine operation, increasing upon him as he 
waited patiently for it. Well, he adds, "He 
brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the 
miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established 
my goings." Truly, "the steps of a good man are 



147 

ordered of the Lord." For indeed, "It is not in 
man that walketh, to direct his steps." This was 
David's experience. For as he did not make haste, 
did not run of himself, — but waited, and that 
patiently, upon God, he found his course directed, 
his steps ordered, his goings established, by the 
Lord himself, and not by his own wisdom, strength, 
or creaturely fervency. 

Now let us attend to what David obtained further, 
and we shall find, that after getting thus established 
upon the eternal, unshaken rock, and not on the sandy 
foundation of creaturely devotion, he had "a new 
song put into his mouth." Oh ! the blessedness of 
waiting patiently upon the Lord for his coming and 
direction, be it longer or shorter that we have thus to 
wait. Had David grown weary of waiting ; had his 
patience failed him, whilst his Lord tarried, he might 
readily have set himself to work, willed, run, and even 
have taken some old song into his own mouth. But 
this would all have been on the sandy foundation ■ not 
on the rock of ages. This would have been attempt- 
ing to order his own steps, and establish his own 
goings, even though he might, in words, have asked 
God to do it. But as he chose rather to wait pa- 
tiently the Lord's time, and until he evidently felt, 
and knew him to incline unto him, he was favoured 
with a new song. Oh! this is vastly different 



148 

from an old one, which is only in the lines of others' 
experience, made ready to our hand. And why was it 
new P Because ' 'the Lord put it into his mouth/' 
as he says expressly. He did not take it into his 
own mouth, as many now do, in the oldness of the 
letter ; but waited till the God on whom he relied, 
put it into his mouth in the newness of life. Well, 
therefore, might he sing living " praises to our 
God." 

He who runs into prayer, preaching, &c, before 
Christ, the life, livingly moves him thereto, makes 
haste, and is not therein a true believer. Every 
true believer believes in, and waits for, the living 
coming in spirit, and qualifications of Christ, his 
life. It is Christ that liveth and acteth in him. 



%Qwm, #tt ®nte jlragjer. 



Though God changes not, is not altered by any of 
our petitionings, yet if 'we lie low, and humbly wait 
under his influence upon us, till it results in solemn 
supplication, and we keep to it singly in the spring 
and motion of his divine word of life and power, not 
putting ourselves forth, nor going before nor beyond 



149 

this quickening influence, opening and leading, — we 
shall pray only for what is according to his good will 
to grant us. At such seasons, he who opens, and 
none can shut, so helps us, opens our way, and aids 
our utterance, that in fervent, vocal intercessions, 
our souls are sweetly and very profitably poured 
forth to God ; who in this case always hears : for 
he cannot deny his own. 

This is true prayer. This is truly drawing near to 
God ; which is the same to us as his drawing near 
to us. But a hasty, zealous approach in words, in 
our own time and anxious desires, effects no good 
purpose. It certainly cannot alter God; and as cer- 
tainly it cannot draw us nearer to him, because not 
in his motion upon us, and without our having any 
true and substantial hold of him. Men pray as if 
they thought they could move or alter God. They 
think if they stir up themselves to ask, and, with a 
good deal of creaturely animation, do ask for what 
they think they stand in need of, it will induce him 
to hear and grant their request. But in all this, 
they are too ignorant of him, his nature, and attri- 
butes. His unalterable nature is such, that all good 
to our souls is of him, and through his operation on 
us ; and therefore, if ever we pray to any real 
advantage, we must be sensibly drawn, and wrought 
into a substantial spirit of true prayer, by his divine 



150 

power ; else we may, to almost as good a purpose, 
pray to Mahomet, or Baal, as to God. For Baal 
could as soon hear, and answer his prophets, as God 
can hear, with approbation, and grant the prayer 
that is not of his own begetting. 

We act as if we would change according to our will, 
the true, living, and unchangeable God, when we at- 
tempt to prevail on him bywords of our own creaturely 
conceiving, to do something for the good of our souls. 
He acts from his own eternal nature and disposition, 
and that always the same ; and is to us, just accord- 
ing as we are to him. If we accost him in words, 
prompted by our own active, anxious, hasty desires, 
without knowing onr hearts livingly touched by his 
own live coal from his heavenly altar, we can but 
obtain the empty echo, in return, to the sound of our 
voice; for he will not be moved. But if we do 
livingly and feelingly lay hold of him, and draw near 
to him, in the drawings of his cord of divine love 
upon us, he draws near to us, and we receive sub- 
stantial blessing. Because he is to us, just as we 
are to him. If we are alive to him, we feel him, in 
the same proportion, alive in us. If we are dead to 
him, even though we pray ever so loud and often, 
and tell him ever so solemnly, "The Lord liveth," we 
speak falsely. For, as to any sensible, living know- 
ledge of him, he is as a dead God to us. Therefore, 



151 

as it is in ourselves, or in our actual state, so only it 
is in reality. And he that can be satisfied with a 
lifeless round of set devotions, that join not his soul 
to God, in a holy, cementing, consolating union in 
the divine life, does but snuff up the wind, and will 
reap the whirlwind. He but mocks God ; and God 
will mock him, when his fear cometh. 

True prayer is always heard, and meets an hearty 
return of the divine complacency ; for its spring, and 
motion, and life, is the very life of God in the soul, 
and joins the soul to him. And "He that is joined 
to the Lord, is one spirit," where he will not deny 
his own. The rest is all chaff, and vanity, and tends 
directly to exalt the creature, and its own activity, in 
opposition to the life and energy of God. From the 
nature of the Deity, and his unwavering tendency 
towards union with us, he must operate on us. 
This, if submitted to, and rightly lived under by us, 
will result in true prayer, and that prayer in sub- 
stantial union. And no possible substitution of 
words, and mere creaturely supplications, will ever, 
in the least degree, promote this divine union and 
fellowship ; but will for ever retard it, and set up 
man, in separation from God, the divine life, instead 
thereof. 



152 



#1T % (SntytL 



I firmly believe, if children would be as strictly 
and steadily conformable, as they might be, to the 
divine will, so far as from time to time it is gradually 
opened and made known, (and there is always power 
with the opening,) they would soon acquire a good 
degree of dominion, in the strength of divine life, 
over the strength of evil inclinations in them, 
whether they ever heard of the Bible, the 
law of Moses, or the name of Christ, or not. 
The divine law being written in living characters in 
their hearts, like the virtuous among the ancient 
heathen, they would become, as it were, " a law unto 
themselves." It was by the energy of the divine 
nature in them, that those heathen were a law to 
themselves. Hence, as the" apostle t declares, it 
" showed" the work of the law written in their 
hearts, which is the very glory of the new covenant. 

Some may be surprised, and query, Were the 
heathen under the new covenant ? I answer, that so 
far as the law was written in the heart, and con- 
formed unto, among the heathen, Jews, Mahometans, 
Negroes, Indians, or any other race of men whatever, 
and whenever, they were so far under the new cove- 



153 

nant. The new covenant is called new, because in 
regard to the Jews, it was to supersede, or follow 
after that outward, literal law and covenant, which 
entered because of transgression. The law written 
in the heart, was ever, under all dispensations, as 
far as man would attend to it, God's covenant, or 
the way of his manifestation to man. But man, not 
abiding at home with his God, but wandering from 
him, seeking out many inventions, hewing out 
11 broken cisterns," and building Babels, God was 
graciously pleased to meet him in his wanderings, 
and accommodate an outward law to his outward 
wandering state ; yet so directed and adapted, as to 
operate as a ''schoolmaster to lead unto Christ;" 
who ever was, and is, the divine life and salvation 
of the soul. 

There never has been but one way of salvation : 
this was, and is Christ, for ever. The Gospel was 
preached to Abraham. He saw Christ's day, and 
rejoiced in the then present enjoyment of the very 
life, light, and power of it. When the Jews gain- 
sayed the testimony of Christ, that Abraham saw his 
day, and urged that he was not yet fifty years old, he 
did not, to confute them, tell them that Abraham 
saw his day afar off, by faith ; for that was not the thing 
he aimed at ; but, in confirmation that CHRIST 
WITHIN was ever the alone "hope of 



154 

glory," in all ages, and was Abraham's divine life, 
and source of true rejoicing, lie comes home to the 
all-important point of doctrine, and declares, " Before 
Abraham was, I am." As if he had said, " I am, not 
now only. This body that you see, is but a body 
prepared for me. < The flesh profiteth nothing.' 
I am, through all time, the life of religion, the sal- 
vation of man, the everlasting covenant.'' This he 
was, inwardly; and unless we know him 
inwardly our life, our hope of glory, we 
know nothing about Christ substantially 
or savingly. 

Men are ever prone to idolatry. Speculative faith, 
speculative salvation, and an outside knowledge or 
opinion respecting Christ, now pass current for 
gospel faith and salvation. The only real salvation 
of souls, was always the spirit of man united to God, 
the fountain of divine life. "He that is joined to 
the Lord," says the apostle, "is one spirit." This 
was ever Emmanuel, God with man, and man 
united to God. As man strayed from that which 
would, if kept to, have perfected this union, an out- 
ward law became necessary. This was therefore 
added, tending in its direction, and pointing through 
many types, ceremonies, and symbols, to cl Christ 
within, the hope of glory ;" and strikingly inculcating 
the necessity of death to the first nature, and of the 



155 

consuming fire of the Lord, in order to acceptance 
and fellowship with him. This was still further 
exemplified in the coming of Christ, clothed with 
human nature, wherein we read, Emmanuel, God 
with man, in actual union, as a lively display of the 
only possible salvation, in any age or nation. It 
must be one for ever. The outward dispensations 
arise in condescension to man's outwardness and 
wandering : God, in and under them all, still leading 
and pointing, and drawing the mind, to the one 
tiling needful, that is, union with himself. 
And as this can never take place, further than death 
takes place upon that which revolts from, and sins 
against him ; so, both the symbols of the law, and 
Christ's outward death and sufferings, declare, the 
way to reconciliation and union with God, is through 
death to the transgressing nature. " He that will 
save his life, shall lose it." This through all ages, 
past and succeeding, is the one standing doctrine of 
the gospel. So far as the patriarchs, prophets, 
and virtuous heathen, knew this inward death, and 
therethrough arose into newness of life, they were 
in the new covenant, united to God, and rejoiced in 
the gospel. 

The gospel is no upstart thing, of only 
about eighteen hundred years standing. No 
soul ever was, or could be, saved without it, out of 



156 

the life of it, or in ignorance of its redeeming power. 
It is never ideal, or speculative, but is always inward, 
vital, and experimental ; and no man knows any 
thing more of it, than he so knoweth it. Even 
though we may have known Christ, literally or 
historically, after the flesh ; yet, if our faith is 
genuine and saving, it is, it must be, in living, 
vital union with God, and therein we may say with 
the apostle, " Yet now henceforth know we him so 
no more." 

The gospel was preached to Adam, to 
Cain, Abraham, and all mankind. It is still 
preached in every rational creature, the 
world over. Some suppose the gospel is uncon- 
nected with obedience in man. But it is ever 
connected with it, requires it, leads to it, and effects 
it. " If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? 
But if thou doest not well, sin lieth at thy door." 
This short sermon, preached by God himself to 
Cain, some may think is all law, (for speculative 
Christians don't understand the distinction,) but the 
truth is, this was the preaching of the gospel, "the 
everlasting gospel;" — not everlasting only as it looks 
forward ; it includes all ages. The gospel never did 
nor can propose any easier terms, than death to sin 
in the soul, the only sure way of well-doing. 

The written, outward law takes hold of outward 



157 

actions ; hence can never make the comers thereunto 
perfect, since the most rigid observance of it, as a 
mere outward rule, cannot destroy the life of sin, 
and unite the soul to God. The law, observed 
only so far as respects outward actions, restrains only 
outward crimes, but the gospel lays the axe to the 
root of every corrupt, indeed every fruitless tree in 
the heart; and not a branch or two, nor indeed a 
tree or two, but " every tree that bringeth not forth 
good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire." 
This is the baptism of him " whose fan is in his 
hand," in order to winnow the chaff from the wheat, 
that it may be burnt up with unquenchable fire. 
Thus he thoroughly purges (not in part only,) the 
whole floor of the heart. And accordingly in 
preaching the gospel to the people, he stops not at 
outward acts; he goes beyond the outward law, 
and strikes at the very root and life of sin. He con- 
demns lust as containing the very essence of sin ; 
he supersedes the law of retaliation, an eye for an 
eye, &c, by condemning the inward disposition to 
revenge, or to resist violence by violence. He so 
much more than forbids killing, (which the law 
also forbids,) that he prohibits anger. Instead of 
barely restraining the hand and eye that offend, from 
the outward commission, he enjoins cutting off, 
plucking out, and casting away, that is, the eradica- 



158 

tion of the disposition. Instead of simply prohibiting 
forswearing, or false swearing, he strikes at the very 
occasion of it, and forbids swearing at all. Instead 
of only loving those that love ns, and returning 
kindnesses received, he insists on a heart of inward, 
settled, universal benevolence, that would do good to 
all, enemies as well as friends. 

This is the way in which the gospel exceeds the 
law, and the righteousness of a real Christian, that 
of the Scribes and Pharisees. These are some of 
the very points wherein Christ exemplified the 
nature and meaning of his assertion, " except your 
righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes 
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case, enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." For, immediately after these 
expressions, follows his enumeration of the fore- 
mentioned points, wherein the gospel exceeds and 
supersedes, but by no means destroys or disannuls 
the law. 

Many are amused with an idea of evangelical 
righteousness, as they very improperly call it, which, 
though it leaves the soul in sin and actual unrighteous- 
ness, and even in transgression of the outward law, 
they contend is the true righteousness of faith, and 
that, by an easy scheme of imputation, it 
exceeds the righteousness of the law. This they may 
dream of as long as tney live ; but they never can 



159 

enter into the heavenly kingdom, till their real, 
inherent, actual righteousness, exceeds the most rigid 
outward observance of the outward law, in the very 
way described in that chapter, by the dear Redeemer; 
that is, by a real death unto sin, and a new life of holi- 
ness, and holy tempers and dispositions, which, and 
which only, brings into the fulness of the Emmanuel 
state, by uniting the human and divine natures, and 
joining man to God, in the one eternal spirit. 

Men may seek to excuse themselves from the real 
death and destruction of sin in them, (the very work of 
Christ in man,) and so long as they hold themselves 
excused, or, under any specious pretence whatever, 
keep back from it, and save their own life, they are, 
notwithstanding all their talk of faith, imputa- 
tion, and magnifying the merits of Christ, 
in a state of death, and alienation from the divine 
life, and can no more enter into the kingdom of heaven 
in that state, than pride can become humility; 
enmity, benevolence ; or inexorable revenge, that 
love and forgiveness of injuries which the gospel 
requires. 

I am well aware how contrary these sentiments 
are, to the current doctrines of our day. I mourn 
under a sense of the doctrinal, as well as practical 
departure of professing Christians, from the gospel 
of Christ. Great part of the systems and doctrines, 



158 

tion of the disposition. Instead of simply prohibiting 
forswearing, or false swearing, he strikes at the very 
occasion of it, and forbids swearing at all. Instead 
of only loving those that love us, and returning 
kindnesses received, he insists on a heart of inward, 
settled, universal benevolence, that would do good to 
all, enemies as well as friends. 

This is the way in which the gospel exceeds the 
law, and the righteousness of a real Christian, that 
of the Scribes and Pharisees. These are some of 
the very points wherein Christ exemplified the 
nature and meaning of his assertion, " except your 
righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes 
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case, enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." For, immediately after these 
expressions, follows his enumeration of the fore- 
mentioned points, wherein the gospel exceeds and 
supersedes, but by no means destroys or disannuls 
the law. 

Many are amused with an idea of evangelical 
righteousness, as they very improperly call it, which, 
though it leaves the soul in sin and actual unrighteous- 
ness, and even in transgression of the outward law, 
they contend is the true righteousness of faith, and 
that, by an easy scheme of imputation, it 
exceeds the righteousness of the law. This they may 
dream of as long as tney live ; but they never can 



159 

enter into the heavenly kingdom, till their real, 
inherent, actual righteousness, exceeds the most rigid 
outward observance of the outward law, in the very 
way described in that chapter, by the dear Redeemer; 
that is, by a real death unto sin, and a new life of holi- 
ness, and holy tempers and dispositions, which, and 
which only, brings into the fulness of the Emmanuel 
state, by uniting the human and divine natures, and 
joining man to God, in the one eternal spirit. 

Men may seek to excuse themselves from the real 
death and destruction of sin in them, (the very work of 
Christ in man,) and so long as they hold themselves 
excused, or, under any specious pretence whatever, 
keep back from it, and save their own life, they are, 
notwithstanding all their talk of faith, imputa- 
tion, and magnifying the merits of Christ, 
in a state of death, and alienation from the divine 
life, and can no more enter into the kingdom of heaven 
in that state, than pride can become humility; 
enmity, benevolence ; or inexorable revenge, that 
love and forgiveness of injuries which the gospel 
requires. 

I am well aware how contrary these sentiments 
are, to the current doctrines of our day. I mourn 
under a sense of the doctrinal, as well as practical 
departure of professing Christians, from the gospel 
of Christ. Great part of the systems and doctrines, 



160 

for several centuries past, preached up as gospel doc- 
trines, is exactly calculated to evade the true force, 
meaning, and work of the gospel. That which first 
leads into sin, is in all ages, and under all dispensa- 
tions, working to divert the mind from the shedding 
of that blood, without which there is no remission. 
The Jews rested and trusted in the law, and thought 
the blood of their mere figurative sacrifices, would 
answer for atonement ; until " he that sacrificed a 
lamb," became in God's view, " as if he had cut off 
a dog's neck ; he that offered incense, as if he 
had offered swine's blood," &c. The professed 
Christian, in the same state, thinks the 
blood of Jesus, outwardly shed, answers 
all purposes for atonement. Thus, instead of 
seeing the true scope of all dispensations, and offer- 
ing up the firstlings of the flock, the life of the 
first nature, men are seeking to save self alive, 
and hope to live and reign with Christ, without expe- 
riencing his death and sufferings in themselves. 
Instead of seeing, that death to the very life of sin, 
and sinful motions, is the drift and doctrine of the 
gospel, and yielding to it, — they are striving to 
believe Christ has died that they might be 
excused from the death of sin. This is anti- 
Christian doctrine. 

If, reader, the sentiments thou here findest, seem 



161 

repugnant to anything thou hast esteemed a doctrine 
of the gospel, it may be well for thee to consider, 
that Antichrist has long sat in the temple of God ; 
and that under pretence of gospel doctrines, his 
ministers have been, age after age, inculcating doc- 
trines as contrary to the gospel itself, as darkness is 
to light. And thou may receive it for truth, that if 
ever thou gettest quite redeemed from the influence 
of these antichristian teachers, thou wilt find the 
true doctrine, life, and power of the gospel, striking 
undisguisedly and unevasively at the whole life and 
power of sin in man. Christ's work is to finish sin, 
and make an utter end of transgression in the soul ; 
and he does it infallibly, whenever he becomes the 
soul's complete salvation. Perhaps the words, anti- 
Christian teachers, may give thee offence. 
I tell thee, if Christ were now on earth, just as for- 
merly, in that prepared body, his zeal would lash 
these ministers and professors of our day, with as 
much vehemency and seeming harshness, as it did 
the doctors and teachers of that day. It is the 
same thing in spirit and substance, which now rules 
in these, that then ruled in them. It is the art and 
cunning of Satan, to accommodate himself to any 
profession, doctrine, or dispensation, which becomes 
fashionable. He matters not what the faith, (or 
rather opinion,) and doctrines are. He can imme- 



162 

diately call himself Christian, orthodox, or anything 
to keep in credit, and then set up the cry of unchari- 
table ! censorious ! bigoted ! and the like, against 
Christ in his true messengers, whenever he would 
strip the wolf of the sheep's clothing, and unveil the 
hidden and concealed face of Antichrist. 

Come, reader, consider a little. Did the true 
prophets steadily cry woe, against the false ? Did 
the false abound through all former ages ? Did they 
overrun the church in the time of Christ's appearance 
in that body ? Did he most cuttingly expose and con- 
demn them ? And dost thou suppose our age, or our 
country, is clear of them ? I tell thee, nay. The land 
now swarms with them, in our time, and in our corner 
of the earth. I see them, and I know them, from place 
to place, almost wherever I go. I am as sure they 
are ministers of Antichrist, as I am of anything 
in the gospel. They do the same which Christ 
accused their brethren of in that day. They take 
away the key of knowledge, and substitute human 
acquirements, notions, systems, and performances. 
They " shut up the kingdom of heaven," and 
will neither enter into it themselves, nor suffer 
those that would enter, if they can hinder them ; and 
yet all the time they are seemingly inviting them to 
enter. " Oh ! no," says their deluded admirer, who 
is thus hindered and kept from the kingdom, and 



163 

from knowing what the kingdom is, where it is, and 
what is meant by entering into it, " surely these 
reverend divines are not such doleful creatures. 
They are certainly pious, godly men, and take a deal 
of pains for the salvation of souls." But art thou 
not mistaken ? Are not the pains they take for 
their own profit ? They make a trade of preaching ; 
they " teach for hire, and divine for money," false- 
prophet-like. They crouch and truckle to the incli- 
nations of their feeders. They pervert the doctrines 
of the gospel, and accommodate their lectures to the 
taste, liking, and gratification of the people; 
especially the great and affluent, their great masters. 
They strike full against the design of the gospel, 
and maintain the impossibility of overcoming sin on 
this side of the grave ; though the destruction of sin 
is the very work of the gospel, and this side the 
grave the only scene of conquest over it. They 
pamper up the proud, ambitious, and martial 
spirit of man ; and, in direct repugnancy to the 
very genius and spirit of the gospel, blow up the 
people to wage war with their fellow creatures, and 
imbrue their hands in the blood of mankind. They 
are the tools of government and party. They 
foment, and are applied to, and called upon to 
foment, or to soothe and settle, the minds of the 
people, as suits the will or caprice of their employers. 



164 

They pray, on one side, for the success of arms, 
to the destruction or defeat of the adverse party ; 
and, on the other side, those of the same com- 
munion pray for success of arms, and destruction 
or defeat, in direct opposition. They are still in 
good unity, as brethren, professedly. They pretend to 
pray to the same God, and in his name, whose unfailing 
promise is to all his true disciples, that whatsoever 
they really ask in his name, shall be granted them. 
In short, there will never be much true gospel life, 
or preaching, among men hired to preach, and 
who undertake it with an expectation of procuring 
thereby an outward livelihood. They run of them- 
selves. God doth not send them; nor is it likely he 
will often qualify them, or bless their labours to 
the people, otherwise than as he overrules events, 
and brings good out of many other evils. I do most 
seriously consider the standing orders of man-made 
ministers, as more pregnant with real injury, and as 
being in itself, and in its train of consequences, a 
more serious evil, an evil of greater magnitude to 
mankind, than any one evil beside, under the sun, 
that I have any knowledge of. Though I suppose 
some who think with me herein would scarcely like 
to have it so bluntly declared in public. But I 
believe it must and will be declared. God has 
determined the downfall of Babylon, and he will have 



165 

a few faithful testimony-bearers against her. She 
shall be exposed; and all her harlots, whoredoms, 
and sorceries detected. And though she may shift 
sides, change her dress, call herself the Lamb's wife, 
cry out against Babylon, and affect to abhor her mer- 
chandise; yet, through all her arts and evasions, 
she is seen, and shall be seen, by the single-eyed 
followers of the Lamb, the true leader, who together 
make war with the beast, and will finally overcome 
him ; for the Lamb and his followers shall have the 
victory. 



©it fi*frfcrmfo §r*aft. 



Christ declares, " Except ye eat the flesh of the 
son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in 
you." John vi. 53. He did not mean his outward 
flesh, nor any outward symbol of it. Hence, he 
adds, a few verses forward, "This is the bread which 
came down from heaven." Many of his dis- 
ciples thought these hard sayings. They were very 
dark to their minds. Their understandings were not 
fully opened to receive them. Therefore, "when 
Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured 

M 



166 

at it, he said unto them, doth this offend you?" 
yerse 61. And then to show them that he did not 
mean by " the son of man," whose flesh they were to 
eat, his outward body, he says, " What and if ye 
shall see the son of man ascend up where he was 
before ? It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh 
profiteth nothing." ver. 62, 63. Many place almost 
all, or much of their confidence, in the flesh and 
blood of Christ outwardly ; though Christ, who knew 
what he said, tells us positively, "the flesh profiteth 
nothing." For when he spoke of the flesh and blood 
of the son of man, which must be eaten, and lived by, 
he plainly meant it spiritually. "It is," says he, 
' ' the spirit that quickeneth. " This he had declared, 
a few words before, to be "that bread which came 
down from heaven." 

In like manner, in explaining who, and what he 
meant, by " the son of man," he asks them, what 
and if they should see him "ascend up where he was 
before ;" that is, in heaven, where his outward body, 
strictly speaking, never was before, and from whence 
it came not down ; though this " son of man," 
here spoken of, truly came down from heaven. 
Hence, in the 32nd and 33rd verses, he asserts, 
" My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven ; 
for the bread of God, is he which cometh down 
from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." His 



167 

coming down from heaven, did not prevent his being 
in heaven, for heaven is a state. He was then 
there. He is still there, though he is still coming 
down from above. Even in the last quotation, he 
saith not, who came down, but " who cometh 
down from heaven." He was then coming down, 
and his coming down was by no means confined to 
his appearance in that body ; nor was his ascension 
up where he was before, at all so confined. 

Jesus testified to Nicodemus, " No man hath 
ascended up into heaven, but he that came down 
from heaven, even the son of man, which is in 
heaven." John iii. 13. Here we find that "the 
son of man," both came down from heaven, and had 
ascended up into heaven again, and was then in heaven ; 
though all this was said a considerable time before the 
outward crucifixion of our Lord. Now then, let us ask 
the question asked of old, " Who is this son of man ?" 
whose flesh is meat indeed ; and whose blood is drink 
indeed ; who is the bread of life that cometh down 
from heaven, which is given for the life of the world ; 
and who had come down from, and ascended up into 
heaven, and was then in heaven, whilst on earth in 
that prepared body ? Is it strange that his disciples 
murmured, and thought such things as these, hard 
or dark sayings ? Or will his professed followers 
any better bear or understand them now, than they 



168 

did then? What a puzzle it put the people to 
then ! How ready they were to object, " How can 
this man give us his flesh to eat?" The same 
puzzle remains, and the veil is still over the great 
multitude of professing Christians. They look out- 
ward, and understand things to mean outward, 
which have their whole life and meaning inward and 
spiritual. 

But in answer to the question, Cl Who is this son 
of man?" It is evidently, "he who cometh from 
above," and so " is above all." But how came he to 
be " the son of man?" and how came he to be in 
heaven, and at the same time both come, and 
coming down from heaven ? Answer. He is ever 
coming down from heaven, to visit the souls 
of men, since he first had a divine birth and 
life in Adam. He is, as to his divinity, his 
eternal life and essence, of the very life and power of 
the " everlasting Father." As such, he is the seed 
sown in every heart, in all the divers sorts of 
ground, bad as well as good. Wherever this seed 
takes root and brings forth, a real growth and birth 
of God is formed in man ; an offspring is produced 
that is of the very seed of God ; " the incorruptible 
seed and word of God." This birth in every soul, is 
absolutely and truly the son of God, his only 
begotten, one with the very life of the blessed Jesus, 



169 

and joint-heir with him. This birth and babe of 
life, is also " the son of man," as being begotten 
and brought forth in man ; and partaking as truly 
and properly of the seed or life of human nature, 
as of the seed and life of God. This is God and 
man, in the heavenly union, the holy and blessed 
fellowship. 

This has been the only way of salvation, through, 
all ages, Had there ever been any other salvation, 
Christ need not have come in that body. Or, had 
salvation been effected without a birth of God in 
man, a real union and joining in one, of the very 
life of the divine and human natures, Christ's 
coming, serving, suffering, and interceding, in that 
body, had had little or nothing to do with, and but 
little or no relation to, the salvation of souls. His 
sufferings, and those of every member, are all in 
the oneness. If one member suffer, all suffer. 
They are all members one of another ; all real mem- 
bers of the true and living body of Christ. His 
sufferings, truly his, are now, filling up in 
them. Here is the union, wherein, "he that is 
joined to the Lord, is one spirit" with him. Here, 
"he that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified, are 
all of one." Here the birth is brought forth that 
cries " Abba, Father." The cry of this birth, the 
Father ever heareth ; for he cannot deny his own. 



170 

Every breathing desire, or inward groan to God, 
arising from the life of this holy birth, is a prayer to 
God, in the name of Christ ; and all its requests 
are granted. For it cannot ask anything out 
of Christ. Its very life is truly the life of Christ, 
whom the Father " heareth always." John xi. 42. 
It is the divine life, the life of God, the incor- 
ruptible seed, that comes down from God; this 
obtaining a life, and real birth in man, the offspring 
is truly the son of man. And then the divine life in 
this union, ascends up where it was before the 
union ; where it was before the state of sonship was 
known. 



#n ^reatjring far Jfke, 



I believe it is generally as impossible for a man to 
preach the gospel for hire, as to touch melted pitch 
undefiled. Nor has any people, professing Christianity, 
long flourished in true and living religion or wor- 
ship, whose teachers receive pay of men, for their 
religious services ; and I assert it in the name of the 
Lord, they never will. I know God is gracious, 
very kind, and, speaking after the manner of men, 



171 

very condescending to human weakness and igno- 
rance ; and on this ground, I hope many sincere 
people, who are thus priest-ridden, and kept in blind- 
ness and ignorance, not knowing their right hand 
from their left, in spirituals ; nor scarcely having an 
idea that there really is any right hand knowledge 
in religion, — any living, powerful, saving experience 
of divine eternal substance, in this life ; will be much 
more favourably dealt with, by the God of unfailing 
compassion (as I conclude the Ninevites of old were,) 
than many others, who have often been turned to the 
light and life in themselves, and who have clearly 
seen, and powerfully felt and known them in and for 
themselves ; but have not yielded to their all- 
sufficient influence. 

And again, as God is good and gracious, and be- 
holds the low state of things in the world ; as he sees 
the disadvantages which many labour under, and 
hears their every groan ; as they often cry for bread 
where none are duly qualified to break it to them ; — 
and as they have not learned to seek, turn to, feel 
after, and happily find the God of all comfort and 
consolation, in their own souls, where they assuredly 
must find him, if ever they find him savingly: — I 
believe he has sometimes condescended, for the sake 
of these, to bless the ministry of some, who have 
taken pay, and who have not duly waited for the 



172 

speaking of his own divine word in them ; which, 
notwithstanding, has in some degree, operated in 
them, and through them worked good to the souls of 
the hungry, panting children. 

Thus, I believe, the Methodists have, sometimes, 
been of real use among the people. But as many of 
them are not established on the everlasting founda- 
tion, and will not wait for God to send them, and 
till he livingly touches their lips with the live coal 
from his altar, before they open them ; as they will 
run of themselves and be always ready, and as 
they come not purely to the free ministry, and strict 
spirituality of the gospel; but receive money for 
preaching, and retain signs and symbolical obser- 
vances, which Christ has abolished for ever, as 
having no place in the pure gospel day ; if they 
remain in this way, without advancing forward, I 
believe withering and formality will attend and prevail 
over them. God will not give his glory to another, 
nor his praise to graven images, or the works of 
men's hands of any kind, however specious or refined. 
He will indeed " glorify the house of his glory," where 
his honour dwelleth ; where his holy spirit is the spring 
of action: and where he is " the worker of all things ;" 
where his people will be still, and know that he is God : 
where they patiently wait for him, and " let him arise," 
not arising themselves before him or without him. 



173 

But alas ! alas! who and where are these? Truly 
not all who are professing so to do. But this is the 
standard unto which the true and thorough gospel 
worshipper must be reduced ; and till he is so, a 
mixture of unsanctified self-activity will prevail, 
which will assuredly prevent his knowing God to be 
exalted over all in him, and in all his movements. 

I believe the Society of Friends have not lived 
strictly and steadfastly in the root and substance of 
the principle they profess, which is the very power 
of God unto salvation. They have too generally 
given way, and not held up the testimony and 
standard to the nations, as they were eminently 
called upon to do ; but have settled too much into 
formality in their discipline, life, practice, and 
worship. 



#n a §u% itosimrti;6£& litmisirg. 



At Select Quarterly Meeting, through laborious 

travail in the deeps, life so far arose as to enable me 
to ease my mind in degree, though not fully, of the 
very heavy exercise which has for some time dis- 
tressed my mind, under a sense of unsanctified self, 



174 

and the busy, active, creaturely part, having so 
much to do, in religious matters, even in some in 
whom it has once, in good degree, been slain. For 
alas ! the seeming deadly wound has been healed in 
too many, who might have been as silver trumpets 
in the Lord's hand ; some as ministers, and some in 
other services, had self-activity been rightly kept 
down. 

Oh ! my soul hath deeply mourned over the loss 
our society sustains, through Antichrist's thus sit- 
ting in the temple, and usurping the place of the 
true teacher. Many a poor soul, who too little 
thinks of being under the influence of Antichrist, 
or even that Antichrist has anything to do in our 
society, is so far governed thereby, as under the 
influence thereof, to be building up Babel instead of 
Zion. And this will more or less be the case, with 
all who attempt to build up Zion, without the assist- 
ance of the true spirit of all Christian worship and 
discipline. Oh! that these Babel-builders would see 
the confusion of language which abounds among 
them, however well connected their words and 
sentences may be in the letter. 



175 



Eeligion, as a divine life in the soul, is lamentably 
rare in England and Wales. * * * I was led 
to deplore the low state of the ministry in our society, 
with renewed desires, that onr preaching might be 
such, through him who is the resurrection and the 
life, that the dead may be raised ; for the letter 
will kill, does kill, and has killed its tens of 
thousands. * * * I may just add, that I 
believe a considerable part of the preaching among 
Friends in England, tends to prevent a growth in the 
truth ; and to retard, rather than promote convince- 
ment in others. 

Oh ! what an enemy we have to war with, and 
watch against ! one who can avail himself of, and 
wind himself into, any form, or profession of religion 
and worship, however spiritual ; and, unless strictly 
watched against, discerned, and valiantly withstood, will 
deceive, and become the leader of the people's leaders, 
and exalt himself into the very temple of God, and there 
sit, adored as an angel of light. And this is already, 
lamentably, too much the case in our own, and every 
other society, that I have known in Christendom. 

I doubt not that Friends would patiently endure to 
hear it said, or see it printed, of any other people 



176 

but themselves : though I believe many would doubt 
the propriety of openly saying it of ourselves. 
But it must be declared openly, or we shall be in 
no small danger of sinking as low in point of spiritual 
worship and ministry, as any other people. Indeed 
many are already overtaken with this formality, and 
some will not attend to the voice of necessary ad- 
monition respecting it. They are so full of them- 
selves, under profession of the spirit, that they often 
expose themselves to the more discerning of other 
societies, inducing them to think lightly of the pro- 
fession of being led by the holy spirit. 

One of the apostles saw many Antichrists already 
come. Query, were they among professing Christians, 
or among Jews and Pagans ? No doubt at all with 
me, they were among highly professing Christians. 
The very nature of Antichrist, is to divert from the 
life of Christ, and from a single dependance thereon, 
under a specious profession of him. But how durst 
the apostle expose his own professional brethren ? 
Are there not many now, who would think such an 
exposure disorderly ; if not unlawful ? But let such 
get deep enough, and they will see that too many 
expose themselves ; and let them learn to know, that 
the Lord will more and more expose them, and have 
them exposed. And indeed, why should ever so 
specious a profession of pure spirituality screen any 



177 

people from open exposure, when they will run of 
themselves ? Their being out of the life, while 
under a profession of life, in all their movements, 
tends to make others easy without even waiting on 
the Lord for life ; for they are able to discern the 
lifeless state of the ministry, even of many of these 
professed waiters. And thus, above all others, 
these deserve reproof, and, in the Lord's time, 
and way, such will be exposed; for the Lord's 
true prophets will be constrained to cry, woe to the 
prophets of Baal. 



(&n ^mtylmt. 



" When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted 
himself in Israel, but when he offended in Baal, he 
died." In our early travail of soul, and deep 
baptizing seasons, Friends who came among us, 
were generally much enlarged, and drawn forth in 
fulness of gospel life and energy. Their doctrine 
dropped as the rain ; their speech distilled as the 
dew, as the refreshing showers on the grass; as 
rejoicing distillations on the tender herbs. The 
heritage was watered; the babes were made to 



178 

rejoice ; the sucklings sang for joy. But now, too 
many of us, in proportion as we have grown wise 
and strong, equipped and qualified with the letter of 
discipline, and in a zeal for its promotion in the 
creaturely activity, (the measure of a man,) are 
grown lean and lifeless, as to true substance, the 
durable riches, righteousness, and eye-salve of the 
kingdom. Too many think they see ; and that 
is the very reason that they are made blind ; and 
instead of waiting in the inward travail, and deep 
silence of all flesh, for life to arise and break through 
all, and stir them up to a lively activity in support 
of real good order and sound discipline, are actively 
and busily exerting the faculties of man, as it were, 
to awake and stir up the beloved of souls before he 
please; or at least striving to build without the 
corner stone; and yet fathering their zeal and 
activity upon the holy principle of divine life ; upon 
the seed that is under sufferings, and indeed, 
grievously suffers by this very activity. 

Discipline in the life, is an excellent thing. But 
my soul has seen and felt, with inexpressible sorrow, 
that out of the life, the administration of it, in the 
letter, killeth, will kill, and has killed many who 
began in the spirit ; and who are now vainly labouring 
to be made perfect in the flesh. Oh ! that they may 
see, and flee from this dreadful delusion and snare ; 



179 

and wait for the live coal from the holy altar, that 
their hearts and lips may be rightly qualified to act 
for God and the good of Sion. 



#it an ^nimatrir |$tmistrg. 



He (Isaac Everett) is indeed an eminent minister 
of the gospel ; scarce attended with any degree of 
warmth or animation, in his ministry, but what is 
purely divine. Oh ! that this was the case with all. 
But, alas ! the mixtures ! — the affectionate emotions ! 
— how many take these for gospel power ! " The 
passionate preacher," said Samuel Fothergill, in a 
letter to a friend, ' ' hath affected the passionate 
hearer : both have been in raptures, and neither of 
them edified." And adds, " Mistake not the warmth 
of the passions, for the gospel authority. The first 
is like the rattling thunder, which frights, but never 
hurts ; the last is like the lightning from the east, 
which illuminates, and, at times, breaks through all 
opposition, and melts every obstruction." 

This kind of preaching has abundantly too much 
place among us as a people. May every hint, such 
passionate preachers meet with, be treasured up by 
them, and not soon be forgotten ; seeing so great is 



180 

the need of a reformation herein, even among many 
who scarcely suspect themselves of any fault in this 
respect ; and yet are almost always in their testi- 
monies, putting too, a little strength of their own, as 
if they were ashamed to appear so weak and little as 
Truth would make them, were they reduced to an 
entire dependance on his holy help. And yet, this 
is the only way to come forth in strength and clear- 
ness, though not in such haste as active self may 
desire. But every creaturely addition will, in degree, 
prevent our arising in the life and purity of the 
gospel. And yet, many may praise this kind of ani- 
mated ministry, and so hurt the poor instrument, 
who all the while is greatly in need of help : but alas ! 
in the low state of things, is likely but seldom, if at 
all, to meet with it from any of the brethren, in some 
places. For, there are too few who are enough 
acquainted with true silence, to prefer it before a 
noise and sound of words, in the warmth and influence 
of creaturely vehemence. To distinguish this from 
the real warmth of truth, requires a deep dwelling in 
the root of life, where no false heat can pass for the 
genuine, nor any specious mixture, for the simple, 
unmixed gospel-ministry. May these things be more 
and more laid to heart. For greater is the 
mystery of iniquity in this respeet ; than 
thousands are aware of. 



181 

Jf*to Cm* §jeIiriKrs an Christ in us. 



I am very clear in it, that at six and seven years 
of age, the inward principle, (which is the hand 
and power of God, lovingly operative upon the soul,) 
so wrought, and shone, and moved within me, as to 
give me a sure and distinguishing sense of right 
and wrong, good and evil, in divers particulars ; 
and in some things, altogether independent of human 
information. 

I have nothing to boast of in regard to the pene- 
trations of my own mind. I am what I am : and it 
is the rejoicing of my soul, that what I am, I am by 
the grace of God, in things of religious concern- 
ment, and not by human wisdom, or scholastic 
attainment. 

It is likely, since Christ himself is " the way;" 
and since himself has truly declared, the way is 
narrow, and that " few there be that find it ;" that 
seven may profess, to one that comes truly to 
possess, a living and saving acquaintance with 
him. I do not mean this in any wise as a calculation, 
or even as a guess, at the proportion., But is it not 
true, spiritually, that seven women do lay hold of 
the skirts of one man P Their choice is, to eat 
their own bread, and wear their own apparel. 



182 

They don't like to renounce self, and become wholly 
dependant for food and clothing ; their own suits 
them better : and yet they wish to be called by the 
man's name, to take away their reproach. 
To be called by his name, they must make at least 
some profession of espousals ; they must seem to 
be changed. And this they are very fond of ; they 
wish to pass for changed persons, and can readily 
consent to be changed in name, though wholly un- 
willing to change either their food or clothing. 
They have food of their own, and their table be- 
comes a snare to them. They feed on the tree of 
knowledge. They are puffed up, and conceited. 
They clothe themselves with embroidered gar- 
ments, yet are destitute of that clothing, which the 
King's daughter, being all-glorious within, is 
clothed with. " Her clothing is of wrought gold." 

In this ignorance of the true riches, and dignity of 
the bride, the Lamb's wife, and in the fulness of 
themselves and that which is their own, they are 
always ready ; because they never wait to be made 
rightly ready, by being fed, filled, qualified, 
and clothed by the true husband. Here', they 
seem not at a loss ; they can readily judge in divine 
things; yea, they would usurp the privilege that 
belongs only to the truly spiritual man, and judge 
all things. But as God has hid the mysteries of 






188 

his kingdom from them, and is determined ever to 
confound the " wisdom of the wise," and " bring to 
nought the understanding of the prudent," they err 
in counsel and stumble in judgment. They put 
light for darkness, and darkness for light ; bitter for 
sweet, and sweet for bitter. They call the very 
light of heaven, " that enlighteneth every man that 
cometh into the world," a natural light, an ignis 
fatuus, or by some other ignominious epithet; 
though the scripture declares it to be the very life 
of the holy "word, that was in the beginning 
with God, and truly was God." Thus dark and 
ignorant are all men, in a natural state, notwith- 
standing all their profession of faith and regeneration, 
and calling themselves by the name of Christ. 
There are many of them, who, under a notion of 
advocating the true cause and doctrine of Christ, 
strike violently against the very life of it; 
and will not allow that the " manifestation of the 
spirit is given to every man to profit withal," though 
the scriptures expressly assert it, and experience 
confirms it to those who rightly profit by the measure 
received. Many who have, from tradition and edu- 
cation, for a season believed the holy spirit graciously 
vouchsafed them, was some very inferior thing to the 
true spirit of the everlasting and most holy God, 
have at length, by yielding to its dictates, and taking 



184 

it for their leader, grown wiser than their teachers, 
and been indubitably instructed and assured that it 
was indeed the eternal spirit, that, from their 
infantile days, strove with them, for their reconciliation 
with God, the eternal source of it, as it did with the 
old world, for their recovery from their corrupted, 
alienated state. 



#11 baptism, 



There is not a text in the Bible, but what appears 
to me perfectly consistent with the entire disuse of 
outward water in baptism, under the new covenant ; 
and I am fully persuaded, that the use of it, after 
Christ's resurrection, was merely in condescension. 
But whilst the veil is over people's understandings, 
perhaps they will never see clearly the spirituality of 
the gospel dispensation ; nor how it happened, that 
the old tilings of John, and of Moses, were not 
immediately and totally disused, as soon as they 
were fulfilled. Though to the single eye, it is 
not at all mysterious, nor could it well have been 
otherwise. It requires a great deal of care, caution, 
and moderation, rightly to lay aside superseded 



185 

observances. The practice of circumcision continued 
a considerable number of years, after the ascension 
of the Lord Jesus, and was in such veneration, that, 
I think, Paul feared, after he had preached the 
gospel among the Gentiles, well on towards twenty 
years, to let it be generally known among the 
brethren at Jerusalem, that he had preached to 
those Gentiles without the inculcation of circum- 
cision, or any such outward ordinance, lest he should 
run in vain, or labour in vain at Jerusalem. For 
they were there so zealous of the ceremonies of the 
law of Moses, that even the few, to whom he did 
declare his practice, were very apprehensive he would 
be obnoxious to the zeal of the Jewish brethren ; 
and so, in order to keep the way open among them, 
he was advised to purify, and be at charges, that 
they might see he walked in the way they thought 
" orderly." 

Thus, we see how hard it was to drop circum- 
cision and water-baptism all at once. The people 
could scarcely bear it, and prudence might require a 
great deal of condescension and indulgence for a 
time, in their continuance. 



186 



%\&i gifting Christians toill bt jjirsmttift. 



If there is not a diligent waiting at wisdom's gate, 
and in the valley of humiliation, in the true faith 
and patience of the saints, the sense of divine things 
is gradually lessened and lost ; and instead thereof, 
a kind of wise reasoning takes place, wherein the 
divine life, and its blessed testimony, are stifled and 
rejected ; and those who stand faithful therein, are 
censured and condemned. ( Ye do always resist 
the holy ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye," will 
ever be applicable to all in the same state, in every 
age, and in every society. " Which of the prophets 
have not your fathers persecuted ?" And which of 
them now, who stand their ground in truth's testi- 
mony, will not be persecuted in some mode or other ? 
He that is bom after the flesh, will persecute him 
that is born after the spirit. Hence the truth and 
propriety of this declaration : " If ye will live godly 
in Christ Jesus, ye must suffer persecution." Oh ! 
that professors of all names were rightly aware of it. 
Each society can very readily conceive the danger of 
it in others ; but few are enough aware of it at home, 
and in themselves. It will hold good in all cases, 
where the love of the world, ease, honour, or 



187 

creaturely activity, suppresses the pure and living 
sense of the holy, innocent life of truth. There is 
great probability, that in proportion as people grow 
up in this state, into influence, rule, and authority, 
in any society, however refined their principles and 
profession, they will become opposers of Christ in 
his sincere followers, and in his peculiar designs, 
openings, and dispensations, and do what in them 
lies to prevent the spreading of divine light and 
reformation ; even though they may be very zealously 
engaged in their way, in exertions to promote the 
cause of truth, as they think, in many branches of 
its already established testimonies. 

Oh ! the deception which this state is ever liable 
to ! It gropes in darkness, and cannot find the right 
way of the Lord. For God himself lays the 
stumbling block in the way of those, who choose and 
rush into this state ; and that on purpose " that 
they may stumble, and be snared and taken." He 
will hide his mysteries from every state but that of 
the " little child," the babe and suckling. Unto 
this he reveals, and will reveal them; and when 
he does so, they are often tried and afflicted with 
the oppositions and hard sayings of many in the 
other state, who scarcely ever suspect themselves of 
being grown up in, and acting from, the same life 
and disposition, which ever opposed the pure testi- 



188 

mony of truth in those who were giving up all to 
follow the Lamb, in all his leadings. 

I have seen it in the light of Christ, that if there 
be not a diligent waiting for, and giving up to, the 
leadings of divine light and life, the kingdom of 
Antichrist will gain ground for a season, even among 
the once visited and called of the Lord. The church 
will lose her beauty, strength, and authority, for a 
while, even until greater and due attention, integrity, 
and holiness, shall prevail. By little and little, her 
members will mix and unite with the world, and 
worldly spirit, till her brightness fade away, her 
discerning depart from her, and a night of darkness 
overtake and come upon her. 



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